


A Simple Favor

by rclarkie16



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Hybrid OC, Sire Bond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 22:26:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16841638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rclarkie16/pseuds/rclarkie16
Summary: He came to her one night to request a favor, to ask something of her that might end with her sacrificing herself for his daughter if it came down to it.He asked for a favor.And nobody in their right mind refused Klaus Mikaelson.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I've been toying with for awhile. I was really interested in the sire bond that Henry had to Hope and thought that I could build on that. Also I'm a hoe for Josie and want her to have a girlfriend who will be what she deserves.

Shiloh Leroux couldn't wait to to turn sixteen, so that she didn't have to depend on someone else for a ride.  
  
Her uncle's truck had a flat and he was unable to get another tire until the next morning, which meant that she was stuck walking back from her school in the city, the sun setting behind the trees and casting a shadow across the road.

From a young age, Shiloh had been taught to avoid the French Quarter at all costs. Nothing good ever happened to anyone who got involved with the Original Family's affairs. She may be a member of the Crescent Wolf pack by blood, but she hadn't yet triggered her curse.  
  
Her mother had been killed back when the vampires and wolves were at war, and her father was killed by Tristan defending Jackson. Her uncle, Kurt, was also a werewolf and had taken the orphan in after both her parents were taken from her.  
  
Times were especially tense for the werewolves after Hayley, their alpha, had been killed by vampire purists. The pot was boiling and about to stew over, spilling right at the young girl's feet.  
  
For the past mile, Shiloh had the sneaking suspicion that she was being watched, but no matter how many times she glanced behind her or at the greens trees that surrounded her, she couldn't see any signs of danger.  
  
Pulling her backpack strap further up her shoulder, the girl picked up the pace, eager to get back into werewolf territory where she knew she'd be safer. The scuff of her converse against the concrete filling her ears.  
  
Until she heard something else.  
  
Crack!  
  
Shiloh whipped her head to the side, straining her very human ears to try and listen for any other noises.  
  
A moment of silence--too much, in her opinion--passed before she turned back around, coming face to face with a smiling man.  
  
Besides the momentary widening of her eyes, she gave no other indication that this strange man had taken her by surprise. Her hand instinctively reached back to her pocket, where she kept a knife her uncle had given her.  
  
It wasn't the creepy smile on his face, or the fact that he had obviously been following her that scared her. She had been trained in self-defense just in case this particular scenario ever came up, especially because New Orleans wasn't safe for those without supernatural abilities.  
  
It was the dried blood that ran down his chin causing her hair to stand on end.  
  
"Hello there," the vampire purred, taking several steps closer until he was inside her personal space.  
  
Shiloh had been trained to defend herself from threats, but she knew that with his supernatural abilities, this man had the upper hand.  
  
"I don't want any trouble," she said, trying to take a step back and flinching when a hand shot out to grip her wrist. The lack of daylight ring alluding her to the fact that she was in the presence of a Nightwalker.  
  
The realization was a shock because she had heard from one of the other wolves that Hope Mikaelson had killed them all. She wasn't sure how or why, but this one wasn't dead.  
  
Flipping her hand over, the vampire's eyes narrowed in disgust. "It's a shame that I do," his grip tightened, eyes locked on a crescent-shaped mark on her skin.  
  
Although the Crescent Pack was no longer cursed, the birthmark that each member had was trouble on it's own.

"Too bad a pretty thing like you is destined to be a mutt," he murmured to himself, seemingly announcing his plans to kill her. "With the rest of my friends dead, I have to carry on the mission."

Shiloh drew back, knife in her other hand and poised to strike, only for the purist vampire to catch it before it could pierce his chest, a triumphant smile on his face.  
  
"I like fighters."  
  
He squeezed the hand holding the knife, a crack and yelp of pain coming from the girl, who dropped the knife and stared at her broken wrist.  
  
Seemingly done toying with her, the veins around his eyes darkened and his fangs elongated before her lunged towards her, the girl bracing for him to rip out her throat.  
  
Her eyes opened when she realized that she wasn’t dead, looking into the empty gaze of the vampire and then down at his chest, where his a bloodied hand was sticking out, clutching the now dead man’s heart.

"My, my,” an accented voice tutted, the mysterious hand pulling out of the vampire’s sternum and the lack of support sending the body crumpling to the ground. “What have we here?” ****

Now that the body wasn’t between them anymore, Shiloh could clearly see who had come to her rescue. ****

Klaus Mikaelson was exactly how she’d pictured him from the stories that she had been told. His blond hair was slightly messy, his facial hair accentuating his handsome features and his blue eyes staring intensely at her. The only thing that she hadn’t expected was the tired aura that surrounded him. ****

When Shiloh was unable to answer him, he spoke again, “I thought my daughter had gotten ridden of all of those nuisance nightwalkers, but it seems she missed one. Luckily for you, I happened to be in the neighborhood.” ****

“Thank you?” it had come out as more of a question and resulted in a smirk from the Original hybrid.

“I don’t tend to meddle in the affairs of the wolves anymore, but since my daughter has now triggered her wolf-gene, I guess I must have to take an interest,” Klaus mused aloud. ****

_Hope triggered her wolf side?_ Shiloh asked herself, _but I only thought that she killed the vampires._ ****

While Klaus seemed lost in thought, the girl took the time to assess her wrist, which was still jutted out at an odd angle, the pain starting to seep in now that the shock had almost worn off. ****

“That looks painful.” ****

It isn’t spoken with much concern, but the infamous Mikaelson reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial filled with a thick red liquid.

Blood. ****

He picked up her good hand, curling her fingers around the vial of blood.

“This should heal that,” he informed her, nodding to the blood. The way he said it was more of a commanding than suggestive.

Fear still coursing through her veins, Shiloh downed what she assumed was the hybrids blood and grimaced at the rusty tang that lingered after it was gone. The effect of the blood was immediate, though, and she could already feel her wrist healing itself.

“Alas,” Klaus sighed, kicking the dead vampire out of the way. “I don’t do anything for free.” ****

“W-what?” the girl stuttered, taking a step backwards in shock. “What do you mean?” ****

Although he looked slightly apologetic, Shiloh knew that he wouldn’t be, for whatever he was going to do. He was known for being bloodthirsty and she didn’t think that wouldn’t apply to one untriggered werewolf who happened to be part of the same pack as his daughter. ****

“It appears I’m in need of your services,” Klaus explained as he circled her predatorily. “I was looking for a werewolf and I found one. One who happens to be the same age as my daughter.” ****

Shiloh’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What does Hope have to do with this?” she wasn’t sure that she really cared that much, but keeping him talking might prevent whatever he was planning on doing to her. ****

“You see, that wasn’t my blood that I gave you,” he revealed, tired eyes studying her reaction. ****

Even more confused, she asked, “Then whose was it? ****

“Hope’s.” ****

“Why would you give me-”

“I don’t have time to explain,” he interrupted her, “just know that you owe me for saving your life and you will do what I tell you.” 

Without waiting for her reaction, Klaus moved quickly. ****

Everything went black as the hybrid snapped her neck. ****

* * *

When Shiloh awoke, something felt off. ****

The first thing she noticed, was that she had no idea where she was. She was laying on the floor of a mostly empty room aside from a table and trash littered across the ground. Shiloh assumed that it was some old factory building on the edge of the city. She remembered leaving school and encountering a vampire that wanted to kill her due to her wolf genetics, then being saved by the Original hybrid. ****

What she doesn’t recall, is how she got there.

Racking through her memory, she tried to remember when exactly she had fallen asleep, but all she knew is that she was talking to Klaus before everything went dark. ****

Shiloh shot up from the floor faster than a bullet when it hit her. Klaus had killed her, which meant that she was now a vampire. Technically, a hybrid, but not having killed anyone meant not having access to her wolf side. ****

Icy fear gripped her when she realized that the only one to ever trigger their werewolf gene after becoming a vampire was Klaus Mikaelson. Him being an Original and all, she couldn’t be sure she would even survive the next several hours, let alone a whole day. ****

Was she going to die? ****

Thankfully, or maybe not, she didn’t have enough time to ponder her fate because the door opened, the hybrid himself strutting through with a scantily clad woman who looked dazed. Shiloh suddenly felt a hunger that was entirely new to her, eyes locked on the compelled woman. ****

“Oh, I see you’ve re-joined the living,” he smirked, yet the trademarked fire wasn’t behind his joke. “I’ve brought you a present.” ****

He nodded towards me and the woman stepped forwards, tilting her head to the side to reveal her pulse point. Clenching her fists so tightly that her skin broke, the baby vampire bit her lip to refrain from sucking the woman dry, using all her self control to stay where she was. ****

“This won’t do. You have to kill her,” Klaus sighed, checking his watch impatiently, “I have things to do before--” he trailed off. ****

“Why do I have to kill her?” Shiloh asked, “Henry turned from Hope’s blood and he didn’t have to kill someone to live.”

The Original stared at Shiloh for a moment, gauging whether she was serious or not. “The Benoit boy had already triggered his curse, but you my dear, have yet to kill a human and embrace your furry side.”

Shiloh’s eyes widened as she realized that he wasn’t asking her to complete the circle of vampirism, but to awaken her werewolf gene.

“I can’t do that,” she muttered. “I can’t kill anyone.” ****

“Can’t you?” Klaus inquired, lifting the prostitute’s wrist and biting into it, then waving the bleeding appendage in the air. “I doubt it.” ****

For several moments, Shiloh tried to fight her instincts to tear into the woman’s flesh, but the tantalizing smell of blood proved too much for her. Before she knew what she was doing, she had latched onto the woman and began feeding, moaning at the delicious taste that had been disgusting to her hours before. ****

Klaus let her feed until she drank the woman dry, the body falling to the floor with a dull thud. ****

As the darkened veins disappeared from under her eyes, the green color turned to a brilliant gold, glowing briefly before returning to their usual color. Shiloh held back a sob as she stared at the lifeless body that had been alive moments ago. ****

She had done that. ****

She had killed someone. ****

Shiloh glared at the hybrid who had basically ruined her life in less than six hours, now having firsthand knowledge of why everyone hates him so much. ****

“Now that that’s over with,” Klaus spoke like it had taken her years to kill instead of three minutes. “Here’s what I need from you.” ****

“Let me get this straight,” anger pulsed through every inch of Shiloh’s body, her eyes narrowed at the man who was asking more of her. “You give me Hope’s blood, kill me, then make me trigger my werewolf gene and you want more from me.” Unknown to her, her newfound attitude was part of her werewolf side. ****

“While I appreciate your sudden spicy demeanor, time is really of the essence.”

“You keep saying that, but you aren’t telling me why,” Shiloh retorted, averting her gaze from the dead woman one again in favor of glaring at Klaus.

“Let me be frank,” Klaus decided, stepping threateningly towards the new hybrid. “I’m going to die,” he held his hand up when Shiloh tried to speak, “and my daughter is going to need someone on her side that is strictly loyal to her. Will do what she order, no questions asked, and that is going to be you.” ****

“And why would I do that?” ****

In a flash, Shiloh was slammed against the wall, the Original gripping her throat tightly. ****

“For one, Hope’s blood turning you has now sired you to her, which means you won’t need to be persuaded to help,” His hold loosened slightly, “and you also owe me a favor.” ****

At the mention of his daughter’s name, Shiloh felt that strange pulling sensation in her gut once more and knew that this was her sire bond. Klaus had not only killed her and triggered her curse, but he had also linked her to his daughter for eternity. ****

“Did I mention the part where you will be attending the Salvatore School?”


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiloh says goodbye to the only home she's ever known and also meets the Saltzman twins.

Klaus Mikaelson had absorbed the Hollow and been killed by Alaric Saltzman two days later, his elder brother, Elijah, dying with him as a final act of his never-ending loyalty to his sibling.

The news had traveled through the grapevine and she heard her Uncle Kurt talking about it with another pack member, John, while she was struggling to come to terms with being a hybrid.

The pack hadn't explicitly said it, but her vampire side put a wall between her and them, something that happened because of their experience dealing with Henry. Many had vouched for him out of a sense of kinship and were upset with the outcome of all the trouble he caused.

She was never an actual member of the Crescent Pack because her werewolf gene lay dormant and now that it wasn't, she was now also half vampire and the wounds from the Nightwalker purists were still fresh.

Caroline Forbes had shown a week or so after Shiloh had become a hybrid. Apparently, Klaus had informed her of what he had done as a one last ditch effort to make sure his daughter would be safe and although she was unhappy with his actions, she knew that the teen would be better off at the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted.

Shiloh could see the grief hidden beneath the blonde's kind demeanor and while she smiled when she introduced herself, the pain of the Original Hybrid's death was obviously still weighing on her.

The headmistress made the school sound like a paradise and quickly had her uncle on board—though that might have to do with tensions within the pack—and requested that they leave for Mystic Falls that night. Caroline emphasized her lack of control and the nearing full moon that would cause her to shift, playing on the guilt she felt from killing that prostitute. The vampire explained how, even though a hybrid could shift at will, their first full moon as a wolf was like that of any other werewolf.

Time was apparently of the essence because she was instructed to pack her things while her uncle and the headmistress talked. Of course, she could still hear them despite their hushed whispers.

 _"Will she be safe there?"_ her uncle asked.

 _"Yes, we will teach her how to control her supernatural abilities,"_ Caroline reassured him, continuing on to say, _"There are many other students in the same boat as her and considering the circumstances, this will be best for her emotional health as well."_

Shiloh wasn't sure what the woman meant when she said, 'emotional health.' Her spirits may be low, but the brutal reality of what she had now become was just another tragedy in the story of her life. She had dealt with her parents' deaths and she would deal with this too.

 _"You mean the sire bond,"_ Uncle Kurt stated, an edge in his tone.

She had almost forgotten that she was tied to Hope Mikaelson.

 _"While it isn't ideal and I don't agree with what Klaus did,"_ the hitch in her voice at the hybrid's name isn't lost on Shiloh. _"Its better than the alternative."_

Nothing else needed to be said because they all knew that the alternative would've been death; and not the kind of death that one wakes up from.

In a burst of enhanced speed, Shiloh had shoved all of her most meaningful belongings into two ratty duffle bags, along with her entire closet full of clothes, unsure of when she'd be back to get more.

When she'd returned to the living room, both adults were waiting by the front door, her uncle with a sad smile and Caroline with an encouraging one.

"I guess this is it," she said, stepping forward to hug the man who had practically raised her. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble."

Uncle Kurt laughed, "Try not to get yourself into anymore while you're at school. I think you've hit your quota for the year."

Eyes watering, Shiloh hid her face in his jacket, inhaling the scent of motor oil and grass that clung to him. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Me too, kid, me too," he pulled back, holding her at arm's length.

Caroline, who had pulled out her cell to give them a moment of semi-privacy cleared her throat, signaling that it was time to go. "We really should get on the road if we want to make it by nightfall," she spoke apologetically, gesturing to her car parked in the driveway.

With one last hug, the two separated and Shiloh followed Caroline to her car, where she put her bags in the trunk and sat in the passenger side, waving as the blonde pulled out of the drive and turned down the road. She watched as the only home she had ever known became a small speck in the side view mirror.

The ride was mostly quiet. Hours and hours of endless road was paired with a pop radio station and occasional information about her new school. The older woman could sense that she needed time to soak it all in and gave it to her, figuring it was the least she could do since she felt partially to blame for the situation.

It was nearing midnight when they finally made it to the tall metal gates that led to the boarding school. Her eyes widened at the sheer size of the campus, not realizing how many supernatural creatures actually called it home.

Caroline turned to her with a small smile as the gates opened, "Welcome to the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted."

* * *

Two girls were sitting on the steps at the front of the school when Caroline's car pulled up. It struck Shiloh as odd for that time of night until both of them jumped up when the blonde got out, rushing over to engulf her in a hug.

"Mom!"

Caroline had failed to mention having daughters during their fourteen-hour drive. Both were extremely pretty, one blonde with blue eyes and pale skin, and the other a slightly shorter brown-eyed brunette. Both couldn't have been more than thirteen.

Once the reunion was over and the three had untangled themselves, their mother stepped back with one eyebrow arched. "What do you two think you're doing being up so late after curfew?" she asked, though it was obvious that she missed her children.

"Well, Jo and I couldn't sleep because dad said you would be home tonight, so we thought we'd just wait for you," the blonde girl explained, looking to her sister for confirmation.

The brunette nodded along with her sister, "We know we shouldn't have, we're sorry."

Caroline stared at them a moment longer before visibly softening. "It's ok, but don't let it happen again."

Each girl immediately relaxed when they realized that they weren't in trouble and now focused on the newcomer who was standing next to their mother's Prius, trying to look inconspicuous. Shiloh quickly glanced at her feet when she realized they were staring at her.

"Oh, girls, this is Shiloh, the new student your father and I told you about." Caroline introduced them, "Shiloh, these are my daughters, Lizzie and Josie," she pointed at the blonde teen, then the brunette.

"Hi," the two chorused in perfect harmony and Shiloh had to have wondered if it had been rehearsed.

Shiloh waved, wordlessly.

Caroline asked, "Would you girls mind showing Shiloh to her room? She's going to be rooming with Hope when she comes back to school," she continued, "I have to go speak with your father."

It may have been voiced like one, but it wasn't a request. Shiloh may have noticed if she wasn't stuck on the part where Caroline said Hope wasn't at the school. She couldn't explain it, but she felt as though something dropped inside of her when she found out the tribrid wasn't there. Like a part of herself was missing.

She didn't have time to dwell on it because the two girls had stationed themselves on either side of her and were leading her into the building.

"Like our mom said," the blonde said, "I'm Lizzie and this is Josie and we're twins, witches, actually." Lizzie looked the new girl up and down before bluntly stating, "And _you're_ a hybrid."

The girl in question suddenly felt self-conscious in her simple long-sleeve shirt and sweats, pulling at the fabric nervously. Seemingly sensing the new student's distress, the brunette siphon came to her rescue.

"Lizzie!" Josie hushed, giving her sister a stern look. "You know we aren't supposed to just _say_ that!"

Her sister rolled her eyes, "Everyone is going to be asking her about it tomorrow, so we might as well get her used to it," she spoke as if she were doing Shiloh a favor.

"Yes, I'm a hybrid," Shiloh confirmed before a fight could erupt between the siblings, though the admission still felt strange coming from her mouth.

Lizzie shot Josie a triumphant look before they entered the school.

The inside of the school was just as breath-taking as the outside. Everything had a more modern feel to it that paired nicely with a large staircase and marble floors. The hallways were wide and spacious, reminding Shiloh of the boarding schools she had seen depicted in pop culture. She could practically feel the magic pulsing through the walls even though she wasn't a witch.

Leading her up a set of stairs, Josie smiled apologetically, "Normally, we'd give you a tour of the whole school, but I don't think our dad would approve," they entered a smaller hallway that was lined with similar looking doors, each with a number engraved on it. "These are the girl's dorms and," she and her sister stopped her in front of one, "this one is yours."

Neither twin made a move to open the door, instead seeming to be waiting for Shiloh to do it, watching in anticipation.

"Is something wrong?" Shiloh asked, eyeing the slab of wood in confusion.

"We're just waiting to see if Hope booby-trapped it or not," Lizzie informed her, dodging the elbow that Josie tried digging into her ribs.

"Not that she would do that," Josie added quickly but didn't quite look like she believed her words.

Shiloh grasped the handle, warily, glancing back towards the sisters, Lizzie giving her a thumbs up and Josie smiling encouragingly. While neither girl was really doing a great job of assuring her that she wouldn't be brutally maimed when she opened the door, Lizzie's halfhearted attempt of hiding a grimace was definitely the least helpful.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for whatever might happen, Shiloh slowly turned the knob, flinching when it clicked softly and then pushed it open. All three girls visibly relaxed when nothing happened.

Lizzie clapped her hands together after a few moments of silence, "That settles that, I guess," she barely spared the inside of the room a glance before announcing, "Now that we've gotten you to your dorm and you're still alive, I have to be getting to bed because I need my eight hours."

The blonde twin turned on her heels and started to march down the hallway, only pausing when her sister didn't follow.

"You coming, Jo?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Josie looked between her sister and Shiloh, taking note of how the hybrid hadn't yet made a move to enter her room and the way her fingers gripped the strap on one of her bags so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

"I'll be there in a minute," Josie said softly, moving to push the door open further and causing the frozen girl to jump slightly. She stepped over the threshold and moved over to stand by the empty bed on one side of the room. "This one's yours,"

The second she stepped into the room, her eyes were drawn to the side that looked 'lived in.' Pictures covered the space above a desk, most of which contained what could only be the Mikaelson family, all of them smiling in every single photo. The bed wasn't made and a teddy bear that had seen a lot of love rested on the comforter.

Tearing her eyes away from everything that belonged to Hope, she made her way over to where Josie was still standing, unknown to her that the Saltzman girl was studying her closely.

"So, breakfast is usually around nine in the dining hall," Josie told her as she placed her bags on the bed, "and since it's the weekend, there aren't any classes tomorrow that you have to worry about."

Shiloh remained silent as she traced the mahogany molding on the wall with her finger, admiring the golden vines on the green wallpaper that wrapped around the upper part of the room, finding the patterns soothing.

Knowing that it was a lot to take in, especially since her father had briefly explained her situation to the twins, Josie decided to give her some space, "If you need anything, Lizzie and I are right down the hall in seventeen."

"Wait," Shiloh's soft voice called after her, the hybrid waiting until Josie turned to face her once again before saying, "Thank you."

Josie nodded but was once again stopped by Shiloh.

"I'll see you around?"

It was spoken in such a fragile tone that it caused Josie to frown, a wave of sympathy rushed through her at the other girl's unsure statement. It reminded her of when her sister would cry about a boy and ask her, 'what's wrong with me?'

"Yeah," she smiled as Shiloh perked up slightly, giving her a small wave, "I'll see you around."

Shiloh watched as Josie shut the door behind her, leaving the fifteen-year-old in a room that was basically a stranger. She couldn't explain it, but Hope's side was actually sort of comforting in a way, yet she could also sense the sadness that lingered after the events of the last few months.

As she unpacked her things and filled her wardrobe with all her clothing, she could only hope that things were starting to fall into place and everything was going to be smooth sailing from there on out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be the last one before jumping ahead to where Legacies picks up. I want to explore Shiloh and her first time shifting, meeting Hope and establish some more relationships between characters.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiloh settles in at school, experiences her first shift and meets Hope Mikaelson.

Things were not smooth sailing.

Actually, they were far from it. 

Not only did Shiloh find herself basically ostracized from the entire group of high school aged vampires at the school because she was a hybrid, but her unwillingness to be part of the ‘pack dynamic’ also caused her strife with the werewolves. It wasn’t necessarily the entire pack that was her problem, it was more so Jed and his tyrannical ideals on how a pack should be. Sure, Shiloh had respect for alphas—even when she wasn’t a triggered wolf, she respected Lupita—but the other fifteen-year-old was just like a child putting on their parents clothes and playing pretend. 

Not all of the wolves were bad. Shiloh got along well with Chris and Mara, some of the werewolves who had been there longest, but their tendency to blindly submit to Jed’s stupid rules made her keep her distance. 

Within the first week, Shiloh had also found herself in the company of Josie, Lizzie and MG, one of the few vampires who didn’t frown when she breathed the same air as them. 

MG was funny and charismatic and the hybrid could immediately tell that he had major heart eyes for the blonde siphon. He didn’t hide it well and pretty much everyone but the two twins could tell. 

Lizzie was not someone that Shiloh would normally find herself in the company of, yet there were some parts of her personality that were redeeming. Shiloh could tell that she loved her sister and admired her tenacity to blatantly call another student out for doing something that her father would disapprove of. 

And Josie, well, the new girl couldn’t help but notice how butterflies exploded in her stomach and the way her chest tightened every time the witch so much as smiled at her. Shiloh had never been in a relationship before, or really had any kind of crush—unless she counted that one boy in the fifth grade—but she imagined this is what it would feel like.

The brunette twin was extremely kind, she had shown Shiloh where all of her classes were on her first day and invited her to sit with her sister and MG at meals. Josie immersed herself in her schoolwork, especially the magical coursework, and appeared to be calm for the most part, unless she was under the scrutiny of more than just her friends, which would then cause her to become slightly flustered at the attention.

In their shared math class, Shiloh had watched as Josie answered a question on the chalkboard, stuttering as she tried to explain how she got the answer.

_“Ugh,” Josie had groaned after sitting back down, hitting her head lightly on the desktop. “That was so bad.”_

_Shiloh had waited until the girl turned to look at her to respond, gesturing to her paper that was covered in unintelligible scribbles._

_“At least you found the answer,” she said from her adjacent desk._

_Her written nonsense caused Josie to crack a small smile. “Maybe you just need a tutor,” she had suggested, pointing at herself and practically volunteering to help out her new friend._

_“I think I need a_ life _tutor,” muttered Shiloh, as their teacher called her up to answer the next question, the mixture of letters and numbers causing her head to spin._

_With her enhanced hearing, she heard Josie let out a giggle as she picked up a small piece of chalk, making her a little more determined to find the correct answer than she was seconds before._

So, her first several weeks at the Salvatore School weren’t terrible, but that didn’t mean that things were going great for her, more specifically her impending first shift, which would be the most painful as her uncle had told her before she’d left home. Of course, this was the one and only time she’d be forced to shift because of her being a hybrid, but that didn’t mean she expected it to hurt less.

Dr. Saltzman had shown her the cells that they kept in the basement for werewolf transformations. He had explained that not all of the wolves at school used them, most preferred to change in the woods behind the school under the moonlight. The cells were mostly used for first transformations and those that proved to be more aggressive in wolf form.

Barrier spells were placed around the gates and the school itself during full moon nights, the wolves allowed to roam the woods in the only amount of freedom that the school could give them. The spells were powerful enough to keep the other students inside and the werewolves outside. 

So far, their method had worked and no one had been injured, other than the occasional werewolf scuffle, which was to be expected. 

The day of the full moon was nerve-wracking for Shiloh, who sat on the edge of her seat in every class and barely paid any attention to anything outside of her head, scared that any minute her bones would start breaking.

It was at lunch when Lizzie finally snapped, having had enough of the tension rolling off of the other girl in waves.

“Oh my god!” the blonde slapped the table, narrowing her eyes at Shiloh. “You’re freaking everyone out, Fido. It’s only one and you’re not gonna grow fur until the moon rises, so chill out already!”

While she wasn’t sure whether or not to be offended by Lizzie’s blatant comparison of her and a dog, the siphon’s bluntness actually settled some of her nerves. She was actually calm enough to eat some of her lunch.

This was the only time that Shiloh wished she was closer to the wolves, not having been told much about the process of the shift other than that all of the bones in her body would break and reform.

_Twice._

“Do you think it’ll hurt that badly?” it was a rhetorical question, one that she knew the other three teens couldn’t answer definitively.

MG and Lizzie avoided her gaze, suddenly finding their lunch trays very interesting and leaving Josie to flounder for some sort of answer that might placate the hybrid.

“Um, I really don’t know,” Josie said softly, looking upset that she couldn’t tell her what she wanted to hear because she knew from overhearing her parents conversations that the shift was apparently excruciatingly painful for first timers. 

“Most of the other werewolves usually come back in good moods, if that helps,” MG added.

Lizzie, seemingly done with the conversation, waved her hand dismissively. “You’ll be fine, it’s not like anybody’s ever died from going full wolf-mode.”

Her sister closed her eyes in exasperation, not-at-all surprised by her lack of empathy, but MG choked on his sandwich at Lizzie’s words. Josie patted the teenage vampire on the back as he coughed, shooting her sister a reproving glance, one that went practically ignored as the blonde started prattling on about a fight between two witches that she was a witness to that morning.

Shiloh was fiddling with her napkin while she attempted to focus on what Lizzie was saying, tearing off small pieces of the white paper at the corner in anxiety. 

Her meticulous shredding of the napkin was halted when a hand covered her own, causing her to look up into two soft brown eyes. Josie had reached across the table, placing her hand on top of the nervous hybrid’s to give her the only reassurance that she could. Shiloh could feel her skin burning at the other girl’s touch, but even so, the contact caused her muscles to relax.

Josie retracted her hand after a minute, but the calm she had given Shiloh remained with her.

* * *

_Snap!_

Her spine cracking and curving itself sent a white-hot pain traveling throughout her entire body, a scream escaping her as she clawed at the concrete floor trying to find anything that would dull the excruciating feeling. The joints of her knees and ankles popped out of place and popped back into a different shape, her fingers shrinking and nails lengthening.

A little after classes ended and most students had retired to their free time, Dr. Saltzman had led a small group of wolves to the basement, Shiloh included. The youngest among them being only eleven, he had to be down there as a safety precaution as all the other werewolves were older and might get too aggressive with him. All the others were either too aggressive or opted to shift in the cells. 

Each of them was locked into a very dungeon-type cell that was made to keep in those with supernatural strength. Shiloh was sandwiched between two boys that she had never met and was across from the eleven-year-old.

Shiloh’s next scream turned into a whine as her nose and mouth expanded outwards, her eyes moving slightly further apart to compensate. It was the worst headache she had ever experienced. Fur sprouted out in patches across her skin and a pushing sensation at the end of her spine signaled the growth of her tail, her canines elongating into large fangs that could cut diamonds. 

By the time the grueling transformation was over, Shiloh was a panting mess on the floor, struggling to catch her breath as the pain melted away due to her enhanced healing.

The first thing she registered as the pain cleared, were the sounds around her.

Most of the other wolves had already completed the shift, so the screams of pain had turned into guttural growls that reverberated off of the walls. The clang of metal hitting metal registered to her ears as others ramming themselves into the cell bars, mindlessly trying to escape their agreed-upon prisons at any cost.

Getting to her feet, Shiloh stood and watched as a small inky black wolf paced the cage across from her, remembering that it was the small boy who she had seen earlier. Though now he was snarling and his eyes glowed a golden yellow. 

Confusion washed over her when she didn’t feel the need to act as the other werewolves were. Sure, her skin itched with an urge to run, but the fog Dr. Saltzman had described during their first meeting was almost completely absent otherwise. There was no bloodlust or blind rage that some of the other wolves told her to expect.

It was more of a freeing feeling like her skin had been crawling since she triggered her curse and all of the sudden she had broken the lock holding a piece of her hostage, embracing this new side of herself.

Without the aggression of her fellow wolves, she felt no need to escape, and instead settled herself in the corner against a cool wall as far away from the loud noises that the others were making as possible. 

A sliver of moonlight streaked across her particular cell, illuminating the long, silvery fur that covered Shiloh’s new form. Other than that, the only thing a passerby could see in the dark was a pair of large green eyes.

Shiloh rested her head on her huge paws, letting out a sigh and closing her eyes in an attempt to sleep, trying to drown out the howls of the other students as much as possible and hoping the transition back would be easier.

As it turned out, the girl wasn’t even awake when she shifted back. Her bones still broke, popped and reformed themselves as she slept, but the werewolf’s pain threshold having increased with the first change allowed her to sleep through it. Since the bones had already been through it once, her body knew what to expect.

She awoke the next morning lying next to a freshly folded pile of her clothes, blushing when she looked down at her bare body. Shiloh could only hope whoever had left the clothes wasn’t Dr. Saltzman or some perverted student.

The thought stuck with her as she ate breakfast with Josie, MG and Lizzie that morning, not giving the trio much information on the night, other than the fact that she had almost complete control over herself then entire time. 

She left out the blood-curdling screams she had let out for the first ten minutes as she fought the change.

* * *

Shiloh’s first meeting with Hope didn’t go exactly how she would have liked it too, but least the tribrid hadn’t set her on fire with her magic, which the green-eyed girl considered a win on its own. 

It had happened around six months after Shiloh had started attending the boarding school, having settled in and made friends—mostly just Josie, MG and maybe Lizzie—and even the vampires were starting to tolerate her presence. Although, most of the werewolves still avoided her in the halls.

After her first full moon, she had taken to running in the woods almost every night. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the feeling of the wind rushing through her fur or the simplicity of just letting the wolf take control. The pain of shifting had actually lessened the more she did it.

This particular night was one of the rare ones that Shiloh hadn’t gone for a run. Instead, she was silently fuming in her room while trying to finish an essay on compulsion. 

Josie had started dating a witch from one of her classes named Penelope. They had been partnered for a project and the siphon had quickly become enamored by the school’s resident ‘bad girl.’

Penelope Park was someone that Shiloh wasn’t eager to become friends with. The brunette witch was sarcastic, used magic for mean practical jokes on the younger students and had a tendency to bully Josie into certain situations, especially if they resulted in a pissed off Lizzie. 

So, if anyone asked, Shiloh would tell them that she was fuming because she disliked Penelope, but the real reason was the bitter jealousy that rushed through her every time the couple so much as held hands around her.

She wanted to be the one that Josie held hands with on the way to class, the one that the girl would seek out when she needed someone to talk to or even the one that she exchanged stupid memes with.

But Josie only had eyes for Penelope.

That’s why, when the door to the room was thrown open, Shiloh was too busy angrily scribbling in her notebook to notice. It was only when the intruder cleared their throat that the hybrid looked up and saw that it wasn’t an intruder.

It was Hope Mikaelson.

Though, this girl looked different from the one in the pictures that littered her side of the room. This girl in front of her was _older_. Or, at least, she _seemed_ older. Gone was the childlike smile that adorned the face in the photos, this version wore an annoyed frown. Her eyes had a tiredness in them, one that reminded her of her one and only encounter with Klaus. She was dressed in sweats and her hair was thrown up in a messy bun, a backpack dangling off of one shoulder.

It was weird, because the tugging sensation in her gut that Shiloh realized was due to the sire bond, completely dissolved when her mind caught up with her vision.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my room?” the tribrid narrowed her eyes at Shiloh, before depositing her bag onto her bed. 

Shiloh felt the sudden urge to stand at attention in front of the other girl but settled for just standing and offering her hand.

“I’m Shiloh,” she introduced herself, “Shiloh Leroux.”

If the French last name rang any bells, Hope didn’t show it. She crossed her arms over her chest, ignoring Shiloh’s outstretched hand and tapped her foot in quick succession on the carpet.

“So, now I know who you are, but that doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”

“I go here?” Shiloh’s eyebrows drew together in confusion.

Hope let out an exasperated sigh, “No. I mean what are you doing _here_ , in this room?”

“Um, Dr. Saltzman said this was the best room assignment considering the circumstances,” the younger girl explained carefully, not really sure what other explanation the Mikaelson was looking for.

Her words caused Hope to pause from pulling crumpled up clothing out of her backpack. She turned to Shiloh and studied her closely for several moments, trying to put together where else she had heard those words before when it hit her.

“You’re the hybrid,” she remembered a conversation she overheard between her Uncle Kol and Aunt Davina. “The one that…” Hope trailed off, not able to say the word ‘father,’ yet Shiloh knew what she meant, so instead she said, “the one that’s sire bonded to me.”

This was a huge relief to Shiloh. Since Hope knew about her father’s attempt at keeping her safe, she also had to know about the sire bond, which meant Shiloh wouldn’t have to keep it a secret because she was a terrible liar.

She nodded. “That’s me,” not sure what else she could say to the other girl’s statement.

Silence washed over them for what felt like hours to Shiloh before Hope cleared her throat.

“Let’s just get a couple things straight,” her tone had taken on a steely edge, “one, pretend that the sire bond is nonexistent. I don’t need another stray hybrid following me around like a lost puppy. Got it?”

Shiloh nodded again, unsure if it was really her agreeing or if it was just the bond forcing her to. 

“Two, stay on your side of the room and don’t touch my stuff,” Hope drew a line across the middle of the room with her arm. “Follow those two rules and we should be able to coexist without an issue.” 

Finished with unpacking the bare minimum she had taken with her, Hope settled on her bed and opened a sketch book, “Any questions?”

“Just one,” Shiloh continued when the girl waved her arm in a ‘go on’ gesture, “do you have to take three times as many classes since you're a vampire, witch and a werewolf? Or, do you just go to whichever one you feel like most that day?” 

Hope doesn’t give her a verbal response, but Shiloh managed to catch a glimpse of the corner of an upturned smile before it was covered with the large sketchpad, the hybrid taking it as a small victory.

She went back to her essay, frowning at the measly two sentences that mocked her.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A recruitment mission is just the beginning of something huge for students at the Salvatore School.

After Hope returned, time started moving just a little bit faster for Shiloh. She wouldn't call them best friends—Hope claimed she didn't _do_ friends—but her presence was tolerated more often than not, which the hybrid figured was because the Mikaelson girl was more lonely than she let on.

Sure, they had gotten to a point where they could exchange pleasantries and occasional jokes, but Hope still kept her at arm's length and refused to acknowledge the sire bond at all. The only mention of it was when she informed Shiloh that as soon as possible, they were going to break it as Tyler Lockwood had.

Almost a year and a half of everything being almost relatively normal—besides the occasional spell gone wrong or werewolf tantrum—passed by before trouble reared it's ugly head once again.

The only good thing that happened around this time was the breakup between Josie and Penelope.

Shiloh didn't know much about the reason behind the split, but there were whispers that it was Penelope who dumped Josie, leaving the siphon an emotional wreck with a bad taste in her mouth. Josie refused to talk about it with anyone besides Lizzie, only referring to her ex as Satan.

Having been crushing on the Saltzman twin for almost her entire time at the Salvatore School, Shiloh was hopeful that this could finally result in her chance to do something about it.

That is until Hope reminded her that she was too scared to make the first move and almost fell apart every time Josie so much as smiled at her.

But, back to the beginning of what might have been the craziest/best year of her life.

It all started with a standard recruitment mission.

Dr. Saltzman had pulled Hope and Shiloh aside after class on the day of a full moon to ask that they come with him to pick up a new werewolf that Sheriff Donovan had gotten a tip about. He claimed that since they were the only two wolves not influenced by the moon, that they would be the best back up since Caroline was on another one of her many top secret trips.

For whatever reason, they were headed full speed towards a church, which Shiloh found incredibly ironic.

"This is a joke, right?" she asked, leaning over the center console to stick her head between Hope and Dr. Saltzman. "We're basically the definition of demons and we're about to go into the holiest place in Mystic Falls."

Hope rolled her eyes, holding back a smile when Dr. Saltzman sent Shiloh a warning look.

"This is serious, Shiloh. We have no idea what we're about to walk in on, so please do exactly what I tell you."

"Sorry, sir," Shiloh held her hands up, falling back into her seat, but was immediately propelled forward when Dr. Saltzman slammed on the breaks, bringing the car to a screeching halt in front of the church.

Three doors shut loudly as they power walked towards the building, Hope in the lead. Sitting on the steps out front was a pale and lanky teen, who could have been on the cover of an alternative mixtape being sold out of a van with his curly hair that fell in his eyes. Shiloh could tell from his scent that he was human, not carrying the musky smell of a werewolf, the hint of blood that clung to a vampire or the spark of magic only a supernatural being could detect.

Hope came to an abrupt stop when her eyes fell on him, causing Shiloh the almost crash into her back. "Landon,"

"Hope?" the boy, Landon, looked up in surprise at the tribrid.

"You two know each other?" Dr. Saltzman asked as he joined the group.

"Long story," Hope replied as she stared with a wistful look in her eye.

Shiloh exhaled a snarky, "I'll bet," ignoring the glare that the other girl threw her way until a loud yell and a crash sounded from inside of the church.

"Dr. Saltzman," the two students chorused as the noises continued, Landon looking behind him in a mix of fear and concern.

Pulling his favored crossbow from an inconspicuous-looking gym bag, their teacher responded, "Yeah I'm on it," running up to the doors as their new companion widened his eyes in shock as the man pulled on the locked doors.

He announced it to the only witch in their group, who chanted a quick spell that opened the doors, breaking the chains in the process. Hope warned Landon to stay outside, while the trio quickly marched inside.

The scene was something straight out of a thriller. A priest was standing over their shifting werewolf target holding a wooden cross and repeating the same words over and over again as he tried to purge him of his so-called demons. Two other adults stood off to either side.

"Shut down the exorcist would you," Dr. Saltzman told Hope and nodded at Shiloh to handle the other humans.

She speedily silenced the priest and with another spell, knocked them all out. Shiloh was tasked with moving them a safer distance away until they could compel or spell them to forget everything that happened that night. Although, she wasn't the most careful while performing her job, smacking one man's head on the side of the pew as she dragged him.

She, Hope and Dr. Saltzman made quick work of chaining the wolf up as he struggled on the ground writhing in pain. It was easy to remember the place that she, herself had been in during the first full moon.

Without her enhanced hearing, she would have missed Landon's quiet exclamation when he entered.

"Oh my god."

When there was nothing left to do but wait, they stood back as the boy completed his change, a black wolf left in his place. The beast snarling and lunging as far as the chains would allow him at what he saw as prey to be slaughtered.

Hours of silence passed as they waited for dawn, only filled with the occasional hushed question from Landon and the period of time where Shiloh compelled the three other humans to forget everything that happened that night. She enjoyed the opportunity to work on her compulsion skills. The rest of the time was spent working on homework for several of her classes, causing their headmaster to raise an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Shiloh replied while finishing an algebra problem, "it would have been done earlier, but someone pulled me out of school and fringed upon my education to pick up a stray werewolf."

Down the pew, several spaces from her, Hope, who had been mostly quiet in contemplation of the shit storm that was going to take place when Landon finally cracked, snorted in amusement.

Eventually, dawn came and the teen, Rafael, Landon had told them, was back in his human form. The girls had waited outside while he shifted back, knowing that clothes didn't transfer between forms and had no interest in seeing Rafael's naked body.

"What's between you and Green Day?" Shiloh questioned while they waited, the chilly morning air making her breath come out in a fog.

"Nothing," Hope lied, not offended by the hybrid's jab at Landon's looks. However, the longer Shiloh stared at her, unimpressed, the more the typically stone-faced girl squirmed. "We danced or whatever at a festival one time, that's all."

"Oh, cool," the younger girl stated, knowing full well not to press Hope for more answers.

They may have progressed from tentative friendship to a more solid relationship, but Shiloh had come to find out when Hope was pushed too far, she tended to close off entirely, so she dropped the subject.

Moments later, the three guys had emerged from the church. Dr. Saltzman led the exhausted werewolf and the jittery human boy to where the girls had been waiting by the car.

Hope had an infinite dibs on shot-gun, so Shiloh was sandwiched in the back seat between the boys, while the other girl got the passenger seat. Rafael fell asleep minutes into the drive, his head leaning against the window as he snored away. On the other hand, Landon bounced his leg up and down, mind running seemingly a mile a minute.

He lasted an impressive hour-and-a-half before breaking the silence when the only adult in the vehicle asked how he and Hope knew each other. Hope gave him slightly more context than her conversation with Shiloh, probably due to the effect Landon had on her. They flirted until his questions couldn't wait any longer.

Dr. Saltzman assured him that they would answer all his questions when they got somewhere safe, but Shiloh knew that he wouldn't remember them when he left.

Shiloh remained quiet as the car made it's way up the curvy driveway that led to the school, awkwardly avoiding eye-contact with Landon and leaning closer to the dozing boy on her right.

They parked under an overhang that was closest Dr. Saltzman's office, Rafael lifting his head up as he became aware that they weren't moving anymore.

"We don't have to go to class, right?" Shiloh asked as they all got out, remembering that it was a school day when she saw other students walking around in their uniforms, the school's crest plastered over the right chest of every one of them.

"I guess not," Dr. Saltzman agreed, the more pressing matter of the human boy with them distracting him. "Only if you finish all the homework that you missed on time."

Biting the side of her lip in thought, Shiloh shrugged, "I'll take it. If anyone needs me, I'll be in bed until tomorrow morning at the earliest."

She said a quick goodbye to Hope, welcomed Rafael to the Salvatore School and waved to Landon, who surely wouldn't remember her in a couple of hours. On her walk into the building, she passed the twins, which could only mean that they were playing 'welcome committee.'

"Josie, Lizzie," she greeted, her eyes lingering on the brunette.

The girls smiled at her, simultaneously saying her name in that creepy way of theirs.

"Hi, Shiloh."

Shiloh figured that it must have somehow made it to the girls that their newest student was a boy and they wanted to make good first impressions. It was definitely an idea that Lizzie would have come up with.

She just hoped that Josie was just going along with her sister like usual and not because she was interested in more than just meeting Rafael.

The dorms were mostly quiet, so the hybrid made it to her room with no more interactions and dropped her backpack on her desk before curling up under her comforter to get some much-needed rest.

Hours later, the slamming of the door echoed in Shiloh's ears, drawing her out of her much-needed slumber and back into the waking world. She kept her eyes shut for a beat before turning over and pulling down the fabric covering her head to keep out the bright sunlight streaming through the window.

Hope was pacing the middle of the room, probably wearing out a path in the carpet the covered the floor.

"Whaz goin' on?" the half-asleep teen wondered, blinking until her eyes became used to the blinding light.

"MG couldn't compel Landon," Hope answered, not pausing in her quick steps back and forth. "He must have ingested vervain, probably from that gas station coffee this morning."

That got Shiloh's attention.

Propping herself up on her elbow, she informed Hope, "I had some of that coffee, too, so we can rule that out. Where is he now?"

"In the werewolf dungeons," the answer intrigued the blonde, her eyebrows raising slightly.

"Way to give him the five-star treatment." Shiloh laughed, "The Best Western has nothing on us," a thought suddenly struck her, "what if he's not on vervain?"

Finally, Hope sat on her bed with a scoff, "There's no other explanation for his inability to be compelled. You know MG is the best student at the school when it comes to compulsion."

Shiloh could see her point, it was extremely valid and everyone knew that humans could be compelled unless they had ingested vervain or were wearing the herb on them. Still, she couldn't help but remember their car ride that morning.

"It's just that I sat next to him for a long time in the car like squished next to him and there was not a hint of vervain coming from him," she explained. There was a certain smell that clung faintly to those who had taken or were wearing vervain, but she hadn't smelt anything off with the teen.

Hope shut her suggestion down immediately, "It's just not possible," shaking her head, she continued, "sometimes you just can't tell if someone's taken it or not, so you probably just couldn't smell it."

"Maybe," Shiloh mused, trying not to take offense to her roommate's disguised insult to her abilities. Hope just had a straight-forward way of stating things sometimes that could be seen as rude to those who didn't know her.

The light-haired girl opened one of her drawers and pulled out some workout clothes. Before she entered their connecting bathroom, she announced, "I'm training with Saltzman, so don't wait up for dinner."

With a nod, Shiloh let her head fall back against the pillow and closed her eyes once more. She wasn't planning on sitting down for dinner, instead deciding to sneak down for cereal or something later.

* * *

It was dark when she rejoined the conscious world, the only light coming from the crack under the door. The teen rolled out of bed and landed deftly on her feet, stretching her arms out and groaning as her several cracks sounded.

As she was turning to pick up her cell phone, something through the window caught her gaze.

A dark shape was quickly moving across the lawn, the lights on the outside of the school illuminating enough for Shiloh to tell it was a person. But, they weren't running, it looked like they were being dragged by an invisible force and that was what caused her enough concern to further investigate.

Quickly, she pulled on a pair of sneakers and slipped her arms through one of her many hoodies. She didn't have time to take notice of the lack of students in the dorms and instead made her way down to where she saw the person last.

She inhaled and was met with the scent of burgers and hair gel, a combination that she could link back to one borderline emo teenage boy that she had sat next to in an enclosed space earlier that day.

Thanks to the strong smell of fear left behind, she was easily able to follow the trail through the woods that surrounded the campus and to the old mill.

Where it was immediately clear that the high school students were holding a rager.

The first person she ran into was MG, who had absolutely no idea what she was talking about when she interrupted one of his thrilling stories to ask if he had seen Landon anywhere. He paused for a moment and then told her he hadn't

Next, she found Rafael with a group of the wolves, taking turns racing to the top of the crumbling structure with their enhanced speed and strength.

"Hey," she pulled him aside, not missing the icy looks that the others gave her as she did so. "Is Landon here somewhere?"

Rafael eyed her up, checking to see whether or not her she would rat his friend out to an adult.

"Yeah," he pointed over in the general direction of the bonfire, deeming her trustworthy enough. "Josie used a summoning spell to get him here and he went to get a drink."

Shiloh looked over to where the boy gestured and turned back to shoot him a small smile, "Cool, thanks."

He stepped back in the direction where the climbing was taking place but halted and looked at Shiloh. "You want to give it a go?" he asked, using his thumb to point to the wall.

"Another time," Shiloh promised, knowing the others wouldn't take kindly to her presence and not wanting to explain that to the newbie. He'd learn the pack dynamic soon enough and she wasn't going to spoil his fun.

With a wider smile, Rafael nodded and went back to the wolves, who slapped him on the back and pushed him towards the climbing wall.

Shiloh watched for a second, then continued her search for Landon, knowing it wasn't a good idea for an unaccompanied human teenager to be wandering around the party alone.

Accidents happen.

So, she decided to be the responsible one for once and circled the entire party twice, coming up empty-handed. No one could remember seeing the teen she described and most of them were too intoxicated to remember.

Which left Shiloh to double back and find another scent trail, one that mingled with a very familiar one that she couldn't forget if she tried. It was one that made her feel complete in a way that could only come from one of two things.

Love and the Sire Bond.

Obviously, it was the second option because Josie smelled of the coffee that she drank every morning and the sweet pea shampoo and conditioner that she used.

No, this was Hope's scent, which she could only compare to rain in the fall, the crisp smell tinged with a hint of sadness that she always carried with her. It may have not been visible, but it was there.

_Hope and Landon must have crossed paths here,_ Shiloh thought to herself as she walked in the direction her senses were telling her to, taking her on a trail back to the school, where it ended at the library.

She could hear muted voices coming from inside, so she knew that this was where both of them had ended up. Their conversation sounded personal and Shiloh gave them their privacy, her rumbling stomach taking her on a trip towards the kitchens.

She never got there, though.

At the bottom of the stairs, she collided with another solid body, sending the other person tumbling backward. Instinctually, her arms shot out to steady them, gripping their shoulders as she finally looked up to apologize.

Only for her eyes to meet a pair of very well known ones.

"Josie," she breathed, dropping her arms quickly when she realized she was still holding the siphon, blushing profusely. "I'm so sorry."

"Oh, Shiloh," it took Josie a beat to comprehend who she bumped into, seemingly lost in her own thoughts, but when she did, she wiped at her eyes rapidly. "It's all right, it was my fault."

Shiloh studied the taller girl, taking notice of the red that rimmed her eyes and the frown that tugged at her lips, "What's wrong?"

The question caused Josie's eyes to gloss over once more, but she shook her head and visibly reeled in her emotions, forcing a smile that seemed more frightening than reassuring.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?" Shiloh pressed, worried about what would have caused that usually level-headed twin to become upset.

"Hey, Shiloh I'm pretty tired," the blatant change of subjects wasn't lost on Shiloh. "I'm going to go to bed, but I'll see you at breakfast, yeah?"

Josie stepped around the hybrid without waiting for an answer, waiting until she was halfway up the steps to take them two at a time, in a hurry to get back to her room as fast as possible.

"I'll see you," Shiloh whispered, concern and confusion swirling around in her head.

Her belly reminded her of her previous mission with a gurgle, but she wasn't hungry anymore. She just wanted to go back to her room and crawl under her covers for the rest of the night and worry about what was going on with Josie.

So, that's what she did.

* * *

Shiloh was right.

Landon had pretended to be compelled and had walked off of school grounds with a knife in his possession that could very well be the most dangerous weapon in the world.

No one was sure exactly what it did.

Dr. Saltzman had called a mandatory assembly to announce the event, but Shiloh became aware when Hope had found her on her way to breakfast, dragging her into a nearby classroom to fill her in.

Although she didn't want to believe he had lied to her, Shiloh could see that Hope was just trying not to acknowledge that she had been tricked. Hurt by the one person she had opened up to the most outside of her family.

"I'm not that stupid, right?" she had asked, facing away from Shiloh and pulling at her hair.

Shiloh had assured her that, no, she wasn't stupid, because the younger girl had thought Landon to be an innocent human and she was a pretty good judge of character.

After sitting through the meeting that explained less than what Hope had told her, Shiloh decided to get a shower, mostly to relax the tension that coursed through her body and partly to give her the space to think.

She took her time in the shower, relishing in the way the hot water worked the stiffness out of her shoulders and washed it down the drain. It felt like she had been in the bathroom for ages, but it was only a mere fifteen minutes.

Which is why she was surprised to see Hope was not alone in their room when she emerged from the shower, her wet hair dripping down the back of her shirt.

Hope was sitting cross-legged on the carpet with a paper placed in front of her and sitting directly across from her was Josie.

"Um, hi," Shiloh said in befuddlement as she surveyed the scene. "What's going on?"

"We're doing a locating spell," informed Josie, seeming to be in better spirits than the previous night. "To find Landon."

"This doesn't look like the kind of spell they teach you in class," she observed, not recognizing the pages from anything she'd read on magic, which was something that interested her.

Hope sighed, "We don't have time for this. Landon could be in another state by now."

"But—"

"Shiloh, please be quiet!" her roommate hissed, "We can talk about it after."

Her words silenced Shiloh, but not because the girl was done talking. The command sent a jolt down her spine, her mouth clamping shut on its own accord and keeping her from asking any more questions.

The lack of noise caused Hope to glance over, an apologetic look on her face as she realized what had happened.

"I'm sorry, Shiloh, I forgot," the remorse was clear in her tone, her usual snark absent. "This is just really important and I have to find him."

"It's ok, I know finding Landon is a priority," Shiloh spoke softly, knowing that the other girl hated doing anything that triggered the sire bond and that she hadn't meant to do it.

Both girls didn't notice Josie watching the entire interaction in confusion. No one at school besides Dr. Saltzman, Caroline, Hope, and Shiloh knew about the sire bond. The less that knew the better. No one could abuse it if it was kept quiet.

Shiloh sat back as the two got to work, wincing when Hope broke the rat's neck and eyes widening at the red glow that surrounded their hands as they chanted words that meant nothing to her.

They were telling each other what they were seeing, most of the conversation made no sense to Shiloh as she wasn't privy to what they were watching, besides road signs and the knife.

Then, they were silent.

It only lasted seconds before they opened their eyes, breaking their linked hands and staring at each other with pale faces.

"Oh no."


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiloh's forced to partake in a 'friendly' game of flag football.

Shiloh didn’t question Hope much when she returned from the bus she had seen Landon on. After she and Josie figured out an exact location, the tribrid had sprinted off to inform Dr. Saltzman, who had already received a call from Sheriff Donovan. The left to meet the sheriff at the scene.

The girl was left with the brunette siphon, who had excused herself with a warm smile, seemingly in better spirits than earlier. Probably due to the forbidden black magic she got to take part in.

Death and burnt flesh was the reason Shiloh didn’t need to ask what had happened. The scents clung to Hope’s clothing in a sickening mixture, causing Shiloh to breathe through her mouth until her roommate stepped into the bathroom to shower.

While Hope was busy, Shiloh glared at the blue and yellow gym suit that was laid out on the bed in front of her. She was not at all thrilled with being forced to play a losing game of flag football against Mystic Falls High School. There were so many places she could think of that she’d rather be.

“Saltzman is making me see Emma after breakfast,” is the first thing Hope said to her when she emerged.

Shiloh glanced over, confused about why Hope was upset about it, “Don’t you and she have a standing weekly appointment?”

“Yes, but I just saw her two days ago,” she reminded Shiloh, fixing her blazer in the mirror. “I really don’t think it’s necessary to see her again.”

“Maybe it’ll be good for you,” Shiloh raised her hands defensively when a glower was turned in her direction. “I’m just saying, the past couple of days have been rough. It couldn’t hurt to talk to someone about it.”

“I don’t need to talk to someone,” the other girl growled, gripping the window sill dangerously. “What I _need_ is to find Landon so I can…”

The sentence trailed off, but the, ‘kill him,’ that wasn’t spoken aloud was still there.

Shiloh frowned at the implication, concerned about the rage bubbling underneath the tribrid’s skin. She was unable to come up with a response because she was too busy trying to decipher why Hope was so upset. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to find Landon.

Sure, he might not be able to be compelled, but he was just a human teenager and couldn’t hide for long.

“I hate boys,” Hope’s change in topic to avoid talking about feelings did not go unnoticed by the other girl as she stared out the windows at some of Mystic Falls who were drawing graffiti on their vans.

“Me too,” her preference for girls is well-known amongst the students and staff at the Salvatore School.

The joke gets a small smile of amusement out of Hope, “Yeah, I know.”

Deciding she couldn’t put it off any longer, Shiloh quickly changed into her gym clothes, pulling at the bottom of her shorts and frowning at the obnoxious blue color.

“Be grateful, Hope,” she released the handful of fabric and glanced up at her roommate with exaggerated dread. “At least you don’t have to participate in the annual suck-fest.”

Her enlistment on the flag football team was all thanks to their resident guidance counselor. Mrs. Tig thought it would be a great way for her to integrate herself into the student body during her first year at school. Then, she continued to make her play with the excuse that it gave her an extracurricular to relieve some of the stress that she has a habit of bottling up.

“Oh, I am,” Hope laughed, eyeing Shiloh’s outfit with disdain. “ _Nothing_ could get me on that flag football field.”

The two walked down to breakfast together, Hope eating eggs and toast, while Shiloh chose to go with a waffle and a huge pile of bacon that would probably have clogged her arteries had she not possessed a very high metabolism.

Lizzie stopped by adorned in her team shirt and commended Shiloh for her meal choice, informing her that she should, “Grab another waffle so she has enough energy.”

Shiloh didn’t miss the side-eye she shot Hope before bouncing away, though.

After they ate, Hope split to go to her meeting with Emma and Shiloh stopped back at their room to grab her phone which had been left on its charger. When she passed the window, she saw Hope and Rafael standing by Dr. Saltzman’s car and narrowed her eyes.

 _If the new kid gets to go, why can’t I?_

With that in mind, she found herself strutting down the hallway and then the stairs. She made her way up the cobblestone path to where the two teens had been joined by Dr. Saltzman and looked to be preparing to leave.

“Hey, do you guys need an extra set of hands?” she asked brightly, ignoring the way Hope’s eyes rolled.

“Sorry, Shiloh,” Dr. Saltzman didn’t sound apologetic at all. “This time I need you to stay here and represent the school along with the rest of the team.”

Stuttering, she objected, “But why does _he_ get to go? I have more experience than him and he doesn’t really know how to use his abilities yet,” she added, “no offense, Rafael.”

Rafael was more focused on finding his friend, so he wasn’t paying the girl much attention other than a “none taken,” with a lifted shoulder.

“He knows Landon,” unwavering in his decision, Dr. Saltzman continued, “he knows where he might go and who he might try to contact, so yes, he does get to go.” He turned to the other two students and gestured to the car. “We have to get on the road. Landon already has a large head start and we need to find him _today_.”

Hope was the only one to acknowledge her when they parted, sending her a wave and a glance as sympathetic as Hope Mikaelson could send.

The hybrid watched as the car disappeared down the drive, her chance at getting out of the game vanishing along with it. She steeled herself before turning around and walking towards the field as though she was headed into the heat of battle.

By the time she reached the patch of green, the bleachers were filled with spectators. Parents and other students from Mystic Falls were decked out in red, and the supernatural kids that decided to show up were representing in blue and yellow.

Shiloh couldn’t help but notice how adorable Josie looked with her buns that were tied with ribbons and the temporary tattoo taking up residence on the one side of her face. Normally, she would find the whole thing babyish, but Josie made it work. Or maybe it was just her giant crush that gave her blinders.

Brimming with school spirit, Lizzie swiped two lines of eyeblack across Shiloh’s cheers so quickly that when she blinked, the blonde had already flounced off to Josie and Kaleb.

Mystic Falls won the coin toss and chose to have possession of the ball first.

Coach Dorian had opted to put the twins, Kaleb, MG, Shiloh and another vampire on the field first, the former three being team captains and all.

Things had started off well enough, the home team played the part of the uncoordinated underdogs who didn’t stand a chance, while their opponents scored point after point and rubbed it in their faces.

Though, Shiloh could tell it was starting to get to everyone—well, mostly everyone. Shiloh couldn’t really care less about the match, but the others did. She could see in the way Kaleb would pound the ground after a fall or Lizzie would clench her fists and force a smile. MG was too focused on impressing the blonde, which left Josie to try and follow what her dad had told them to do.

It was when she was subbed out for a water break that things started to turn for the worse; and, not just for the Salvatore Stallions.

Out of the corner of her eye, Shiloh spotted MG talking with Penelope, which wouldn’t have been weird except for the way Josie was staring at them with a squared jaw. It wasn’t her problem, Josie didn’t like her like that and she didn’t even like Park, so she focused on something else.

Coach Dorian’s phone rang and she had a perfect eavesdropping spot from her position on the bench behind him.

The headmaster’s voice floated through the cell phone’s speaker.

“What’s up, Ric?” Coach asked, half paying attention to the players on the field.

Dr. Saltzman’s voice cut through the cheering fans, _“Dorian, we’ve got a problem.”_

Fans for the other team erupted into screams behind her, so she only caught the words _fire breathing woman_ and _knife_ from Dr. Saltzman’s next sentence. Whatever Coach heard, though, had him telling Shiloh that he was leaving the captains in charge and then hurried off in the direction of the school. 

Shiloh walked back out onto the field for the team huddle, finding a spot between Kaleb and the vampire kid, Daniel, from before.

“Coach Dorian had to run back to the school,” she told them, speaking mostly to the twins, “something your dad needed him to do. He said the captains are in charge.”

A flicker of something—disappointment, probably—passed through the sister’s eyes at the mention of their father. One focused on the new power they held, and the other closed in a little more on themselves.

Lizzie puffed out her chest before leaning into the group of circled up players.

“I just want to take a minute to tell you guys how proud I am. You’re all doing a great job.”

Kaleb didn’t think so, “We're getting our asses kicked!”

“Which means we’re doing a great job,” Josie reminded him, moving to the side when MG jogged back over.

“What’s the play?” he asked.

“Same as always,” Lizzie replied, “run around, make it look like you know what you’re doing, then fail.”

“For those of us that actually _don’t_ know what we’re doing?” raising her hand, Shiloh wondered the same thing she’s been for two years.

“Excellent work,” the blonde commended, “keep doing what you’re doing.”

She was pretty sure the only reason they let her play was that she had absolutely no idea how the game worked and therefore couldn’t win if she wanted to.

With a chant, the team got back into their positions, but Shiloh didn’t miss the exasperated expression on Kaleb’s face as they did. He was reaching his breaking point and she doubted he’d make it to the end of the game.

Surprisingly it wasn’t the aforementioned vampire that deviated from the plan.

In a move that she could tell was assisted by supernatural abilities, MG jumped to catch a ball that Lizzie through blindly, carrying the last few feet to the end-zone.

The only other teammate celebrating with MG was Kaleb, who performed an interacted handshake with the other vampire. Lizzie was pissed because she was losing a handle on things and it didn’t help that Dana was getting in her head.

“This is not going to end well,” Shiloh murmured to herself as they reset for the next play, toying with images of the field covered in dead bodies flashing through her mind for a brief moment

Josie shut down the next throw after Dana rushed Lizzie, slapping the perfect pass like she was playing volleyball and not flag football. She shrugged unapologetically as she shot her sister a look.

The move caused Dana to make a snarky comment to the blonde twin, who resembled a volcano on the verge of eruption. Shiloh didn’t hear what was said, but Lizzie’s face when she turned back to the team screamed _murder._

“New plan. The gloves are off. Let’s burn these bitches to the ground!” she growled, a dangerous gleam in her blue eyes.

“Lizzie, no!” Josie objected, but her words fell on deaf ears.

Lizzie stuck her hand out, “We’re gonna give these townies a taste of what we’re really made of.”

“Are we really sure that this is such a great idea?” Shiloh felt the need to take Josie’s side. She also understood the reason why they had to lose and the importance of keeping themselves secret.

“I’ve never been surer in my entire life,” the blonde assured her, though Shiloh doubted it.

Shiloh sighed, shooting an apologetic smile in Josie’s direction before adding her hand to Lizzie’s. “Fine, but I can’t promise I’ll be any help.”

Everyone started putting their hands on the pile.

“You can count on my steel,” MG spoke with a failed attempt at a smolder.

“Ew, gross,” face scrunched up, Lizzie was not impressed.

“Hey, I’m with you,” Kaleb said, “all the way.”

Which left Josie, who shifted uncomfortably when they all looked towards her, waiting for her response.

“C’mon, Jo, you’re ruining an epic moment here,” her sister was not used to her not following along with her schemes.

“No, this isn’t what we talked about,” Josie reminded her, the only one who really remembered what they were supposed to be doing that day.

It was refreshing to see Josie stand up to her sister since she usually just let Lizzie take the lead. Shiloh liked this side of the girl, regretting agreeing to the new plan.

“Well, I’m calling an audible and I need you to get on board.”

Although the shorter twin challenging her sister was a momentous step away from her codependency issue, it would have probably gone better had not so many eyes been on her expectantly.

Josie caved under the pressure and put her hand on top of the pile, the two siphons taking power from the others in order to perform spells. Shiloh rarely got siphoned because the school was like its own magic battery, but she liked the feeling. While it did take some of her energy, there was a warm feeling that accompanied it.

“Break!”

It was gone as quickly as it arrived, leaving Shiloh longing for the feeling. It took her a moment to shake it off before jogging over to her spot and trying to focus on the game.

Now that powers were on the table, the Salvatore Stallions were pulling out all of the stops.

The vampire kids were using compulsion, speed and straight to outwit their opponents, werewolves were leaping and sliding inhumanly impossible ways and Lizzie was muttering spells that tripped them—mostly Dana.

Shiloh didn’t use any of her enhanced abilities because she felt the need to stand with Josie in solidarity, who would nervously glance over at the scoreboard every time they got another touchdown.

The only time Shiloh really did anything was when one of the Mystic Falls kids was running towards the siphon, who didn’t even have the ball. Before he could get far, she stuck out an arm, effectively clotheslining him.

“Oops, I’m sorry,” she really wasn’t. “My bad,”

Josie sent her a thankful nod, which she responded to with a salute.

During another break, Josie snatched the whiteboard out of her sister's hands, erasing her notes and writing one thing.

 _LOSE_.

This started another squabble between the twins, in which Josie reminded Lizzie why they were supposed to lose for the safety of everyone at the school. The argument split the team in half. Lizzie, Kaleb, and the others wanted to beat them just to shut them up and Josie, Shiloh and MG didn’t think it was worth the risk.

“Or, door number three,” Penelope had been lurking around the team all day and finally decided to stir the pot.

Her idea was for them to win without using their powers. It was a pretty decent plan, but Shiloh wouldn’t admit it due to her dislike for the witch. Josie was adamant against it, but Lizzie and Kaleb wanted any result that ended in them winning.

“Yeah, or legitimately terrible,” Josie pointed out after Penelope explained the option.

“I second that,” Shiloh raised her hand, face heating up under Josie’s appreciative gaze. “I suck with or without powers, no pun intended.”

But, Shiloh could see the wheels already turning in Lizzie’s head.

“No, we used to be terrible,” she explained, “but Kaleb’s new this year—“

“—So am I!” MG reminded her, voice taking on a higher pitch at the assumption that Kaleb was better than him. “I can help us win, too.”At the unimpressed look Lizzie shot him he exclaimed, “Yo, I caught that pass earlier.“

“Yeah, but you cheated, you used your powers,” once again, Josie tried to shut things down.

“No, I didn’t!” MG argued, claiming that he was scrappy.

Shiloh scoffed from her spot next to him, “I’m pretty sure scrappy doesn’t account for jumping higher than any human should be able to.”

“Good idea, _Satan_ ,” Lizzie spoke over Shiloh’s voice, looking at the witch with a blank stare. “but to be clear, you can’t have my immortal soul,” she turned to the team, “fair and square, let’s do this.”

Except for Josie, the team cheered, laughing as they jogged back out onto the field, eager to win it without powers. Shiloh waited a moment before joining them, turning to face Penelope, who looked extremely satisfied with herself.

Placing her water down on the bench, she narrowed her eyes at the girl, “What’s your deal?”

“What do you mean?” Penelope asked, fluttering her eyelashes with false innocence.

“You know exactly what I mean,” Shiloh retorted, stepping closer to her in a rare moment of confrontation for the hybrid. “Why do you care whether or not we win?”

Penelope shrugged, the bored expression she usually wore forming on her face, “I don’t.”

"Then why…” her eyebrows furrowed, before her gaze hardened, “whatever, Park.”

With one last glare, she turned and joined the rest of the team right as the ref blew the whistle to begin the play, not liking how Penelope was seeming to fit herself into the cracks of her thick skin.

The Salvatore Stallions and Mystic Falls were neck and neck as the game went on, one scoring and then the other alternating until the final seconds of play where the home team could make on last vie for the win.

The scoreboard read forty-eight to forty-two with Mystic Falls in the lead. Even though she didn’t care about winning, the numbers made Shiloh nervous because the game was so close. All they needed was one more touchdown to come out on top.

“Ok, guys,” Lizzie said to the huddle, “it’s the last play of the game, it’s Hail Mary time. Everyone but Josie, go long.”

Understandably, Josie was confused, “What do I do?”

“It doesn’t matter, cause there’s no way I’m gonna throw you the ball.”

“I really don’t think you should throw me the ball, either,” Shiloh suggested, “I’m more of a defensive player than an offensive.”

“Nonsense,” Lizzie waved her off, only concerned about winning and seeing her as another number in their last chance, “you’ll be fine.”

“Lizzie, look my way I’ll catch it,” ever the gentleman, MG attempt to be smooth failed.

“Well, you caught something from Penelope Park, too,” Lizzie’s snarky reply caught Shiloh’s attention, a flash of Josie’s face from the previous night going through her head.

Whatever Kaleb said next was lost on Shiloh as she tried to piece together the new information and how it connected to her run-in with the brunette siphon. The thoughts stuck with her as they lined up the last time and the whistle blew once more.

Shiloh was so busy connecting the dots that she didn’t pay much attention as she mindlessly ran down to the end zone, sidestepping players from the other team until she was standing in the appropriate spot.

It came to her in the same moment that Lizzie threw the ball.

Something must have happened between MG and Penelope that Josie witnessed and that was why she was so upset the other night. The times that day where Shiloh had seen the two talking suddenly made much more sense since MG had stopped talking to the girl out of respect for his best friend. 

The football heading straight towards her roused her from her train of thought, causing her to book it to the other side of the end zone, away from the ball

“No, no, no,” she muttered as Kaleb ran by her to catch it.

Then, the strangest thing happened.

In what would have been the winning score of the game, the ball seemed to land perfectly in the vampire’s grip, then appeared to repel away from him and fell to the ground.

The Salvatore Stallions had lost.

* * *

Lizzie had thrown the first punch.

That’s what Shiloh would remember after Coach Dorian and some of the other faculty had managed to separate them after the fighting had reached its climax.

Granted, it was a reaction to something Dana had said to Josie and every member of the team had heard it. There was pushing and shoving—Shiloh remembered doing a lot more tackling than she had during the game—and had gotten to the point where spectators were joining it.

It had only stopped when Coach had blown his whistle and screamed, “ENOUGH!”

His likeness to their headmaster was uncanny.

Any bruise she had gotten healed by the time they solemnly made their way back to the school, unsure of what their punishment would be, but knowing Mr. Saltzman would deliver it when he returned. 

Everyone showered in silence and parted ways to go back to their dorm rooms.

Hope was back when Shiloh shut the door softly behind herself, holding a slip of paper between her clenched fingers.

“I’m guessing your day went about as smoothly as mine,” Shiloh didn’t need confirmation, she could see it all on Hope’s face.

Landon and Rafael had taken off, ditching Hope and the headmaster while the tribrid was performing next level dark magic spells that she had intended to use on the human.

Dragons were mentioned and the supernatural world seemed to be getting much, much bigger.

All because of a stupid knife.


	6. Chapter 5

* * *

Punishments were being handed out like candy at the Salvatore School.

Shiloh was in her second-period werewolf anatomy class when a note floated through the air and landed on the professor's desk. The class let out a chorus of 'ooh's as they waited for the note to be read aloud.

"Shiloh Leroux," she wasn't surprised when her name was called by the teacher, "Dr. Saltzman would like to see you in the library."

Collecting her things and ignoring the whispers and snickering from her werewolf brethren, Shiloh was relieved to get away from the distinct smell of toxic masculinity that seemed to follow Jed around.

She resisted the urge to flip off the smirking alpha as she passed by his desk, instead of trying to imagine what punishment Dr. Saltzman would have in store for the students involved in the fighting after yesterday's game.

Detentions would be served out cleaning up after the entitled town of Mystic Falls, where their rivals called home. Anything to seem like the normal boarding school—that they obviously weren't—performing a public service for their neighboring community.

What could possibly go wrong?

Dead Mystic Falls teenagers scattered across the main street briefly crossed her mind before being drowned out by Lizzie Saltzman's whining.

"This makes no sense, dad," the blonde marched after her father up the library steps, "why are we being punished?"

"Because," Dr. Saltzman stressed, "you started a _brawl_ at a charity football game that risked exposing what we really do here."

"You weren't mad last night," Lizzie reminded him,

Shiloh distinctly remembered getting pulled aside by the man briefly to be told about how disappointed he was in her involvement. He hadn't given her the chance to explain that she was only trying to protect one of his daughters. Not to mention, Hope had told her how pissed he was after she tried to use black magic to kill the dragon, a spell originally meant for Landon.

Speaking of, no one had heard from him or Rafael since they took off after the dragon lady was actually dead.

"Oh, I was mad last night," he informed them, "my undying love for my daughters just happened to trump my rage. I volunteered everyone in the game so stop complaining. You're lucky it's just community service and not actual jail time,"

Shiloh thought she would rather have the jail time if she were being honest.

"Can I at least make a rebuttal in my defense if it pleases the court?"

There was nothing Lizzie could say that would change her father's mind, but no one was going to point that out. Well, maybe Hope would, but the tribrid remained silent for now.

"First of all, I was provoked," she explained, standing on the floor a foot or so above them. If she didn't know they were surrounded by books, Shiloh might've thought they were in an actual courtroom with the way Lizzie spoke. "My response was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse that I was forced to endure," her face scrunched up, "and secondly, if anyone should take the blame, it's Josie."

Shiloh's jaw dropped open at the blatant betrayal that was taking place in front of her. She glanced from Lizzie to Josie, and back again.

"What?" Josie seemed just as shocked, if not a little angry.

"I'm sorry, I totally cracked under cross, but if you had just let Kaleb catch the ball—"

"—You'd still be in trouble," Saltzman finished for her.

"But nice job throwing your sister under the bus," Hope butted in, the desire to take a jab at the blonde too strong for her to resist.

Shiloh couldn't help but add, "Throw her under the bus, she might as well have run her over with it herself."

"Thanks, Hope, Shiloh," Josie said, crossing her arms to glare back at her twin.

Her cheeks warmed at the gratitude from the brunette siphon. It almost made the guilty feeling of assisting Hope in her verbal assault against Lizzie Saltzman disappear completely, but not quite.

"Speaking of," Dr. Saltzman interjected before things took a turn at the corner of witches and catfight. "the bus leaves in ten minutes and I expect all four of you to be on it, working together today, harmoniously and without drama. End of debate."

"I wasn't even at the game," pointed out Hope, not thrilled in the slightest to hang out with the Saltzman twins. "Why am I being punished?"

"You know what you did," he replied. Shiloh noticed how Lizzie and Josie both perked up. Most likely interested in how Hope managed to get in trouble with their father. "Alright now go, all of you. Go on! And please behave!"

As she passed by him, Shiloh paused and put a hand on his arm, "It's nice to have dreams sir, but that's like asking for a miracle to happen," she turned when Hope hadn't moved from her spot, "you coming?"

"Give me a minute," arms crossed tightly across her chest, Shiloh didn't question the older girl, just moving to wait on the outside of the door for her friend.

"What did Ms. Perfect do to get on Dad's bad side?" Lizzie questioned Shiloh the moment the doors shut behind them. Josie looked over her sister's shoulder curiously, wanting to know the reason, too.

"Sorry girls," Shiloh really wasn't, her loyalty to Hope Mikaelson overpowering the girl's weakness for Josie's dark brown eyes, "but, I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Boo," drawled the blonde, slipping her arm into her sisters and leading her out to the bus.

Dorian drove them to the Mystic Falls towns square, where they would be carrying out their punishments. Shiloh got to sit next to a pissed off Hope, who was being antagonized by a nosy Lizzie.

The students got the choice between graffiti, litter, and weeds. Lizzie's adamant refusal to clean up trash was the reason behind Hope's decision to do it. Josie surprised everyone by siding with Hope, probably because she was still sore about Lizzie's betrayal to their father.

Shiloh was obviously Switzerland because she accepted a pair of gloves from Dorian and crouched at the nearest section of pavement, pulling plants from the cracks.

Her position was conveniently located within hearing distance of Josie and Hope due to her enhanced senses, but the two were working in relative silence. There was nothing worth listening too.

It's probably why when a fuming Lizzie Saltzman stormed past her covered in what smelled like strawberry milkshake, that Shiloh followed her. The girl looked between her gloves and Lizzie's retreating figure before throwing the gloves aside and moving to catch up with her.

By the time she made it to the blonde, the girl was demanding Dorian take her back to the school so that she could change and 'get the hell away from the Mystic Falls neanderthals.'

"I'm sorry, Lizzie, but I can't leave the rest of the students without supervision," Dorian tried to explain. "and you cannot walk home by yourself."

Lizzie's face turned as pink as the smoothie splattered across her shirt. She opened her mouth to scream out her frustrations—and probably have another magical temper tantrum.

"Um, Coach, I could take her back," Shiloh offered, about as much to keep Lizzie from hospitalizing several teenagers as she wanted to get out of the work herself.

"Shiloh, you can't drive a bus," Dorian pointed out, gesturing behind him and the large vehicle.

Shiloh held out her phone and wiggled it in front of the man, "Welcome to the twenty-first century, Dorian. We have Uber!"

"I don't know," Dorian mused as he considered it, "Ric probably wouldn't like that. No one's supposed to come through the gates unauthorized."

"Don't worry about it," Shiloh waved off his concerns, "plus, would you rather have an angry Dr. Saltzman because of his daughter using Uber, or a fuming Saltzman who's daughter killed a bunch of kids in broad daylight?"

Dorian sighed, obviously more concerned about the latter, "Fine, go."

"You've just performed a public service yourself, sir," she congratulated him, then led Lizzy over to where the car she had already requested before interjecting herself into the conversation would be arriving any minute.

The entire ride back to the school consisted of Lizzy switching between ranting between getting revenge on the 'townies' and complaining about how she had just washed her hair that morning. If he wasn't getting paid so much to be driving them, their Uber probably would have thrown himself out of the moving sedan.

Shiloh knew she sure wanted to, but in some way, it was still better than cleaning up Mystic Falls while the local students mocked them.

The man dropped them off at the large gates as requested, not sticking around long enough to see the girls slip inside.

"How did you pay for that anyway?" Lizzie asked as Shiloh struggled to keep up with the taller girl's longer, purposeful, strides.

"The Salvatore School credit card," Shiloh informed her, showing her the Uber receipt on her phone. "I couldn't have afforded an hour and a half ride without it."

"We have one of those?"

"No, it's for employees and emergencies only," Shiloh shrugged, "did this not qualify as an emergency?"

"Is that a serious question Shiloh? Of course, it's an emergency! This shirt was brand new!" Lizzie's fury respired at the revelation and she moved forward too quickly for Shiloh's short legs.

They passed through the gardens, where the grade school children were working.

"Hey, Lizzie, you uh—"

"Choose your next words very carefully, Pedro," the blonde warned the curly haired boy holding a shovel who had spoken, not pausing to hear the rest of his sentence.

"Hey Pedro, sorry about Lizzie, she's having a rough one," Shiloh apologized on the other girl's behalf, having a soft spot for the little kids, "how about a game of whiffle ball later?"

Pedro nodded excitedly, along with some of the other kids scattered around him. She waved to them before following an angry scent trail that could only belong to a milkshake-covered blonde siphon.

By the time Shiloh had reached Lizzie's final destination, her father's office, Shiloh missed whatever confrontation had just taken place.

"Uh," she stammered in the open doorway as the blonde came stomping out, meeting Dr. Saltzman and Ms. Tig's bewildered gazes.

"And what's your excuse, Shiloh?" Dr. Saltzman asked her, trying to recover from his daughter's verbal assault.

"If you must know, I was implementing the values the Salvatore School teaches all of its students by not letting Lizzie come back all by herself," Shiloh used the man's own values against him.

"Ok, well you can continue to spreading out values to the younger students by helping in the gardens," he fired back, adding when she frowned and didn't move from her spot, "now, please."

"Aye, aye, captain!" she saluted him, then turned on her heel and headed to where the kids were in the gardens. At least they were cleaning up something that she had to look at every day instead of someone else's town.

Shiloh picked up a pair of garden shears from the shed and got to trimming one of the many bushes surrounding the massive property. She found the repeated action relaxing and let herself zone out as she worked.

She just couldn't understand what was so special about that knife. It wasn't even that impressive looking and besides the fact that it was seemingly indestructible, there was nothing hinting to its true purpose.

But the girl wasn't worried about the knife, she was worried about what monster would come looking for it next. It had some sort of magic surrounding it that attracted bad things and Shiloh would rather they get rid of it than keep it.

A shrill scream caused Shiloh to jump and disfigure the current plant she was working on. Shiloh would recognize that girlish shriek anywhere.

If she was correct, it was heading in her direction and her feet carried her to the cobblestone path where two figures were scrambling towards her being chased by a big gray man. On further inspection, she saw it was statue-like and reminded her of something she saw in a movie once.

"Holy shit," Shiloh hissed, " is that a freakin gargoyle?"

There wasn't much time to linger on the revelation because Lizzie and Pedro were getting closer and so was the gargoyle.

"Shiloh, run!" Lizzie shouted when she saw the hybrid, waving her arms wildly.

She really wanted to, but her stupid conscious reminded her that she could probably take this guy and get the other two some time to get help. Preferably Dr. Saltzman and his crossbow.

"No, go get your dad!" Shiloh stepped between them and the gargoyle, "I'll distract him!"

Lizzie didn't need to be told twice. The blonde kept running, pulling Pedro alongside her when the boy tried to turn around and look back.

The gargoyle was closing in quickly, so Shiloh stretched her arms and prayed to whatever God was listening that she wouldn't end up with a sword through her chest.

"Hey, you!" she waved her arms to take the attention away from the retreating Lizzie and Pedro. It was unnecessary because it had already set its sights on her the second she stepped into its path.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

It was about ten feet away from her when she realized she had to look up to meet its gaze.

"Ok, you're a lot bigger than I first thought," she groaned, clenching her fists in anticipation.

The gargoyle paused, sizing the hybrid up before holding out its arms and letting out an ear-piercing scream that made Shiloh's blood run cold.

Shiloh didn't really have a lot of training in offensive attacks since the Salvatore School preferred a defensive strategy as opposed to making the first move. So, it shouldn't have been a surprise when the girl surged forward with her fists and it didn't pan out.

Her knuckles hit the stone chest of the gargoyle with a resounding _smack!_ and if she were a human every bone in her hand would have most likely been broken. She would probably only have a bruise for a couple of hours.

If she lived that long.

The gargoyle threw her aside and started towards the school, but Shiloh wasn't done.

"Plan B, Shiloh," she shoved herself off of the ground and leaped onto the monster's back, wrapping her arms around its throat and trying to rip its head off.

She was jostled around as the beast shrieked, beating its imposing wings wildly and trying to dislodge her. The stone skin of the gargoyle cracked slightly underneath her enhanced strength but she wasn't powerful enough to do more than that with her bare hands.

Finally, the gargoyle's wing caught Shiloh in the side and hit her to the ground, knocking the breath out of her.

Before she recovered a clawed hand gripped the back of her shirt and tossed her at a section of the brick gate that covered the property. The girl's head smacked against it, leaving a sizable dent and her vision went dark for a moment, long enough for the gargoyle to disappear.

Shiloh traced her fingers over her forehead, pulling back with a hiss and finding them covered in sticky, warm blood.

Wiping her hand on her shirt, she ignored the throbbing pain in her head in order to follow the gargoyle's path to the school, where the doors had been left open in its haste.

That wasn't what caused her heart to drop, though.

An unmoving body with wavy blonde hair laid sprawled across the wooden floor.

For once, Shiloh thanked Klaus Mikaelson for triggering her curse because she could hear Lizzie's heart beating. The girl was still alive letting her sigh in relief.

But there was still something wrong.

Quick footsteps carried her to Lizzie and she fell onto her knees beside the siphon witch, her hands hovering over the girl. The girl seemed frozen in place and the only thing moving was her eyes back and forth in panic. Small noises were coming from her, but her mouth was shut.

Her shirt was destroyed and three long, jagged wounds were gaping across her abdomen, yet instead of blood, they were covered in some kind of grey substance.

"Lizzie?" Dr. Saltzman rushed into the room, Shiloh moving out of the way so that he could kneel next to her. "Oh my god, Lizzie."

Shiloh had failed to notice the primary school students that had gathered around them.

Dr. Saltzman looked up at Shiloh, glancing up at the blood on her forehead briefly. "Why isn't she moving?"

"I don't know," Shiloh shrugged, gesturing to Lizzie's shredded shirt, "I think it has something to do with the lack of bleeding."

"That statue hurt her!" Pedro told them.

"It was a gargoyle," Shiloh explained, "like straight out of _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_ but ten times scarier."

"I have to make a phone call," reluctantly, Alaric left Lizzie's side to make the call, leaving Shiloh's hearing distance and whispering into the device.

When he returned, Dr. Saltzman's face had taken on a grave expression, "We are on lockdown. No one goes outside, period. I want you all in your rooms. Upper class, you're on the buddy system. Lower class I want you to go with Emma to the grand hall, ok? Everyone, let's go."

The older students dispersed from the room in groups, but Emma held the lower class kids back for a moment while she talked to Alaric.

He turned to head back to his office, noticing Shiloh leaning against the doorway.

"Shiloh, you heard what I said," he instructed, "go back to the dormitories."

"Technically, sir, my buddy is back in Mystic Falls cleaning up litter with your other daughter, so with Lizzy out of commission, I don't really have a designated buddy," Shiloh pushed herself up off of the frame. "Plus, I think you could use the manpower in case things turn ugly."

Dr. Saltzman studied her for a long while, before letting out a long sigh. "Fine, but just until we get to my car, then you find Emma and stay with her, got it?"

"Scout's honor!" Shiloh sang, falling into stride with him as he headed into the direction of his office.

Things were too quiet as they navigated their way to the headmaster's office. With all the other students and staff on the opposite side of the school, the only noises would be caused by them or the gargoyle.

Wherever it was lurking.

Some naive part of Shiloh hoped that the monster had given up and left, but the logical side of her brain called that part an idiot.

Upon entering the office, Dr. Saltzman retrieved the knife from a locked drawer in his desk, while Shiloh watched the hallway.

"What?" Shiloh quirked an eyebrow when the man left the room with just the knife, "No crossbow?"

"Something tells me I'm not gonna need it," Alaric's answer was vague, and sent a shiver down the hybrid's spine.

Turning down another hallway, an arm shot out in front of Shiloh, effectively stopping the girl in her tracks and keeping her from going any further.

"What's wrong?" she asked, not having heard anything.

"I need you to go back to the dormitories," Dr. Saltzman ordered.

"But you said…" trailing off at the stern look he shot her Shiloh stepped back, "ok fine, I'll go back to the dormitories."

Shiloh gave the headmaster one last glance before she did as she was told and started towards the wing that housed the older students. The hallways were still empty, almost as if the Salvatore School had turned into a ghost town.

It was when she saw the claw marks lining the wall that she started to walk a little bit faster. She was taking the steps that led up to the dorms two at a time when a familiar voice broke the silence.

"Lizzie?"

 _Josie_.

The hybrid's body went rigid as her brain registered who was calling the blonde siphon's name.

They weren't supposed to be back yet. Dr. Saltzman had told Dorian to keep the students in Mystic Falls until he was given the all-clear.

Shiloh bit her lip, foot hovering over the next step as she debated her next move.

"Sorry, Dr. S," she murmured, moving down the stairs quickly, "but I'm sure you'd understand the circumstances."

Finding Josie was a lot easier than finding a needle in a haystack. The lack of foot traffic made it a simple task. The gargoyle's footsteps were heavier due to its body being made out of stone. Quick, light footsteps were an obvious indicator.

Shiloh intercepted the girl on what she would assume was her way to her father's office.

"Josie," she hissed, causing the brown-haired witch to spin around.

"Shiloh?" Josie asked, eyes widening and moving to stand a foot away from her. "What happened to your head?"

"Oh," Shiloh ducked away from her outstretched hand, figuring she probably looked a little worse for wear. "it's old, I'm fine."

Josie opened her mouth like she wanted to push the subject, but shook her head, brown hair flying back and forth, "Where's Lizzie?"

"Um," the shorter girl stuttered, recovering quickly at the panicked expression that formed on Josie's face at her foundering, "she was attacked by a gargoyle, but she's going to be ok. She's just paralyzed."

Leaving out the part about the possibility that whatever was wrong with Lizzie might spread to her heart and kill her seemed like a good idea. No sense in sending her sister into a panic attack with a gargoyle on the loose.

Josie relaxed slightly, shoulders falling at the affirmation that Lizzie wasn't seriously hurt. "Wait, gargoyle?"

"It's a long story," Shiloh started herding her towards their dorms, but Josie dug her heels into the carpet, surprising Shiloh with her strength.

"We have to go to the library," she informed her when Shiloh tilted her head questioningly, "Hope went there."

Shiloh felt that invisible string tying her to the tribrid tug her in the direction she knew the library was in. "Hope's here?" she bit her lip.

"Yeah," Josie nodded, appearing confused at the girl's sudden change of demeanor.

That was all the teen needed to know.

Her feet carried her to the library, Josie close behind her and Shiloh wished she could be this calm around the siphon all the time. Too bad it took the sire bond's influence to keep her from becoming flustered.

Dr. Saltzman was with Hope when they got there. The man was holding a small ax in his hand and asked the Mikaelson, "So how'd you take the containment spell down."

"She didn't," Josie interjected, plucking the weapon from her father's grasp, "I did," she glared at him, "and I have questions."

Shiloh stood next to Hope, holding a hand up in a sarcastic wave while the Josie talked angrily with her father.

Hope raised an eyebrow, "I'm guessing Lizzie Saltzman got you in the middle of this mess."

"I do have a problem being friends with people who have an affinity with getting themselves into sticky situations," Shiloh teased, grinning when the other girl rolled her eyes.

"Or maybe you just have an affinity with getting yourself in trouble," Hope pointed out.

Their banter was cut short when Alaric told them they were going to go to the grand hall. Shiloh wasn't sure of the reasoning behind it but followed without question. The four of them paraded down the halls, the human and witch of the group both swinging weapons.

Shiloh and Hope didn't need anything more than their hands and teeth.

"Emma?" Dr. Saltzman called when they entered the room, "Emma!"

The sliding doors in the back of the hall opened slightly, the guidance counselor holding finger to her lips and shushing them.

Heavy footsteps sounded from behind them and it would have been hilarious how they all turned around simultaneously had the situation not been so dire.

The gargoyle stood at the top the steps, illuminated by the light behind it, snarling menacingly. It unfurled its wings, shrieked and _flew_ down the stairs right at them, knife clutched in its claws.

Right at _Hope_.

Shiloh was too far from the tribrid to help, but Alaric stepped in its path as it raised the knife poised to strike the girl.

"Hope!"

"No!"

"Dad!"

Deadly metal stopped inches from his heart.

For some reason the gargoyle was unable to pierce Dr. Saltzman with the knife, instead staring at the man.

Shiloh was so busy being relieved that she didn't think to act.

But Josie did.

Letting out a battle cry, the girl swung her ax and connected with one of the monster's wings, shattering it. The gargoyle turned to unleash its fury, but Dr. Saltzman had hit it once more in the back, redirecting its attention to him once again.

Hope cried out a spell that subdued it, before calling out for Josie's help.

The gargoyle had dropped the knife and Shiloh shot forward to pick it up.

Then, the two witches joined hands and chanted a spell that literally caused the gargoyle to explode into dust.

"Nice job," Hope praised the brunette.

Josie ignored her, whipping around to face her father, "How could you just jump in front of her like that? You could have died, Dad!"

"Honey, I knew it wouldn't kill me because my research said so," he tried to assure her, but she moved past him, pausing by Shiloh to deliver yet another jab.

"Why didn't you do _anything_?" she asked, bumping by her roughly when Shiloh couldn't come up with a plausible answer.

It left Shiloh at a loss because what was she supposed to do?

She wasn't allowed to tell anyone about the sire bond because it could be used to hurt her or Hope.

Speaking of the tribrid, it was a little confusing to see the hurt that lingered in her eyes at Josie's rage. Usually, that wouldn't have really bothered Hope, but maybe something had happened earlier to change it.

Whatever was going on, Shiloh needed to get away from it all for a couple of hours.

"Hey, Pedro," Shiloh smiled at the kid who appeared at her side, "how about that whiffle ball game?"


	7. Chapter 6

Rafael and Landon were back.

While Shiloh was neither thrilled nor upset at the sudden return of the two boys, she couldn’t say the same for everyone—namely, Hope.

The tribrid’s mixture of anger and curiosity for the human teen was not unexpected, but it was so strong that Shiloh could practically taste it. From what she could gather, Mr. Gilbert had brought them back late the night before and left soon after. Shiloh had seen him walking past the library when she was supposed to be doing homework.

Although her inability to focus might have had more to do with the gargoyle and Josie lashing out at Hope, Dr. Saltzman and herself after they had killed it. Shiloh couldn’t help but retreat to the library like a kicked puppy and sulk.

She had accomplished practically nothing and there was a Supernatural History exam coming up that she was in no way prepared for. If she was going to pass she would need to find time to study.

But, things weren’t going to make that easy for her.

The next morning Dr. Saltzman called a mandatory assembly. Sheriff Donovan had come to the Salvatore School to inform him that two Mystic Falls students had gone missing overnight. When he said one of the girls was Dana, Shiloh’s eyes zeroed in on Lizzie, who was sitting in the row in front of her.

“What?” the blonde hissed, noticing the girl’s somewhat accusing look glaring into the back of her head. “Why are you looking at me like that, Krypto?”

“No reason,” Shiloh drawled, passing a picture of Dana to the witch sitting next to her, “but you don’t seem all that surprised to hear the news.”

“If you hadn’t noticed, I was a little too busy turning into a statue to go on a killing spree,” Lizzie reminded her, rolling her eyes.

Shiloh shrugged, whispering “True, but everyone knows how much the two of you hate each other.”

“Please, like I’d ever break a nail trying to kill _Dana_ ,” her tone heavily implied that the thought was ridiculous. “She probably just got drunk slutting it up at a party and is hungover somewhere with her friend.”

Dr. Saltzman and Sheriff Donovan returned the students’ attention the front of the room. Since Dana’s friend Sasha was not the type to just disappear, the two thought that something else was at play. They were enlisting some students to help find out where the girls went in the guise of an exchange program.

Shiloh thought the entire idea was stupid because she couldn’t believe that Mystic Falls kids would buy that some of the Salvatore students would want to mend fences.

On the other hand, Lizzie was suddenly full of compassion.

“Well,” she stood up and positioned herself in front of her father, “I guess I can put aside my differences with Dana for a day because that is what heroes do,” Lizzie straightened her blazer. “So, I volunteer as tribute.”

Shiloh couldn’t understand where this hero mentality that the blonde twin had developed came from or why she was quoting the _Hunger Games_ , but she wasn’t sure she wanted any part of it. Especially if that meant going to their rival high school and playing nice.

“I’m in,” Kaleb shot up from his chair, closely followed by MG.

“I’m in, too.”

“I’d like to help,” Shiloh turned around in shock as Hope volunteered.

While Hope was always helping in these types of situations, her actions put her right into a group with Lizzie, who was not her number one fan and vice versa. Even though she really wasn’t interested in going, Shiloh felt the sudden pulling sensation in her gut and knew it would make her more uncomfortable ignoring it than being surrounded by Mystic Falls students.

Sighing, Shiloh pushed herself out of her seat, “I guess I’m in, too,” she tried to pretend she didn’t see the smug smile Hope sent her.

“Actually,” Dr. Saltzman said, “I think I’m going to need you for something else today, Shiloh.”

Nodding in confusion, Shiloh slid back down against the wooden chair. She had no idea what the man wanted her for, but at least she got out of Mystery Inc. duty with the Scooby Squad. She could still feel the sire bond tugging at her, but it was easier to push down with Dr. Saltzman’s order.

Plus, she’d probably be able to get some studying done in the meantime.

The volunteers gathered around the headmaster after he dismissed the assembled students.

Shiloh waved, beaming sarcastically, “Have fun at school, kids!”

A snort from her left caused her to turn and see Josie covering her mouth and looking away, but Shiloh could still see the corners of her mouth raised. 

She was counting that as an improvement.

* * *

Lizzie, Hope, MG, Kaleb and shockingly, Landon, had left for Mystic Falls High later that morning, leaving Shiloh waiting on whatever Dr. Saltzman had planned for her. In the meantime, she went to her morning classes and then the mess hall for lunch.

With all her friends gone and her distaste for the other wolves still going strong, Shiloh was alone with her textbook in the furthest corner of a table. She alternated between turning pages and shoveling chips into her mouth.

Shiloh pretended not to see Josie and Rafael sitting together, but couldn’t fight the way her fingers dug into the table’s surface.

She didn’t consider herself to be a jealous person. The only other person that caused her to react in a similar way was Penelope back when she still was dating the brunette siphon. It didn’t help that she knew Josie had a crush on the new werewolf.

So, when Jed made his way over to Rafael and Josie, she noticed.

Her negative feelings for the alpha overpowered her jealousy and before she realized what she was doing her feet were carrying her to the group of three.

“Bounce, witch,” Shiloh heard Jed order Josie.

Clenching her fists, the hybrid quickened her pace. No one—Jed, especially—would get away with being rude to Josie. Even if her so-called crush was mad at her at the moment. Plus, she knew what this conversation was about and the possibility of it turning physical was high.

There was no chance in hell she was gonna leave Josie in the middle of two werewolves bursting with testosterone.

Rafael blew Jed off, “As soon as Josie and I are done.”

“Actually, newb,” Jed continued, “I’m your alpha. You’re done when I say you’re done.”

The new werewolf rose to his feet and Shiloh arrived just in time to provide enough of a distraction to slow down the inevitable fight.

“Hey, Jed,” she grinned, “don’t you have a tree somewhere you have to pee on?”

Jed narrowed his eyes at the hybrid and she noticed some of the pack members closing in around them in her peripherals.

“This is pack business, half-breed,” sneered Jed, but Shiloh could still see the hesitation that formed on his face at her appearance. “Why don’t you run off to your loner friend, Mikaelson?”

A growl escaped her throat and Shiloh felt Rafael shift forward behind her.

Clearing her throat, Josie stood up. “Would you look at the time?” she glanced at an imaginary watch. “As fun as this hurricane of toxic masculinity and whatever,” Josie gestured to Shiloh without meeting her eyes, “this is, I have to get to class.”

“I’ll walk you,” volunteered Rafael, sending Jed one last challenging look.

Before Shiloh could push away the hurt from the brunette siphon’s clear dismissal, she and Rafael had already exited the lunch room.

“You better be careful with that one, Jed,” she warned the angry alpha, who was staring after them, “he doesn’t seem like the submissive type.” 

Jed gave her a withering glare as she brushed past him, bumping his shoulder as she went to retrieve her textbook from where she discarded it earlier.

* * *

Dr. Saltzman intercepted her a little bit later in between classes and pulled her into his office.

“I need you to come with me,” he told her, “I have a favor to ask you.”

He led her across the school grounds to the woods where Sheriff Donovan was waiting for them. He explained that they had found Sasha’s car flipped upside-down and Dana’s dead body was nearby.

“You want me to _what_?” Shiloh questioned, rubbing at her ear as if she had misheard him.

“I need you to transform and try to find Sasha. Vampire and werewolves both have an enhanced sense of smell, but a transformed wolf’s senses are at their peak,” Dr. Saltzman explained.

It wasn’t that Shiloh was opposed to it, but she hadn’t prepared her state of mind for the pain that the shift still caused her. She couldn’t understand why he wanted her when there were plenty of other ways to track Sasha. 

“You couldn’t have had Hope do it?”

“No,” he replied, leading her to where the sheriff was standing by an overturned car. “I needed Hope in Mystic Falls because of her magic. She has the most magical knowledge out of all the witch students at school.”

“Doesn’t the police have dogs?” Shiloh tried.

“Dogs can’t travel at sixty-five miles an hour through the woods,” Dr. Saltzman pointed out, “and you are the only other student at this school besides Hope who can shift at will.”

“Fine,” she sighed, rolling her neck in order to get rid of all the kinks.

Sheriff Donovan was convinced that a vampire was behind the attack, but Dr. Saltzman was adamant against it. They were arguing about it when the sheriff asked him to tell him Dana there were no sides but stopped short in front of a bloody jacket.

“So, is Dana a vampire now?” Shiloh broke the silence, her question lingering awkwardly in the air.

“I need you to find Sasha now,” Dr. Saltzman’s expression was dark.

There was no arguing with that order, so Shiloh gave him a quick nod and scurried off to find a far enough spot in the woods to shift. She grabbed Sasha’s bag on her way so she had a scent to track.

She stripped herself of her clothing and immediately dropped to all fours to prepare for the transition. Every shift after her first got easier, but not less painful. She just learned how to deal with the pain instead of letting it control her.

Soon enough, a silvery wolf stood in her place and its eyes glowed gold before fading to her normal green.

It took several moments to shake the fog of the wolf’s natural instincts from her mind. The instincts were what made werewolves so vicious during the full moon. Once she overpowered them—which took some time to learn—Shiloh had almost full control over her own actions.

By the time Shiloh got back to the abandoned car, Dr. Saltzman and the sheriff had gone. She lifted her muzzle into the air and took in a deep breath. The first obvious scent she detected was Dana’s. The scent of Chanel No. 5 mixed with blood burned her nose.

The next scent was Sasha’s, which she knew from taking a whiff of the missing girl’s backpack. It was laced with fear but the lack of rusty smell led the hybrid to believe that Sasha was still alive.

The third and final scent was unfamiliar to her. It had a musky overtone that made the fur on the back of her neck stand up. Whatever it belonged to was something that Shiloh wasn’t eager to cross paths with.

While Dana’s trail ended at the bloody jacket that lied discarded in the dirt, Sasha’s scent was intertwined with the unknown third creature.

It must have carried the girl away deeper into the woods.

Following Sasha’s scent proved to be difficult because there was no discernible direction that whatever had taken her was moving in. Its path appeared to be random and there were several times that the trail doubled back.

It had to be looking for something, Shiloh thought.

But it wasn’t until Shiloh arrived at the old mill, where Sasha’s scent was the strongest, that she realized what it was looking for. It needed somewhere to hide its prey while it tried to get the knife.

Coffee and sweet pea paired with the harsher tang of werewolf caused Shiloh to pause. While the werewolf was almost impossible to identify, she knew that sweet smell of morning coffee and sweet pea shampoo anywhere.

Josie.

Both were still fresh, which meant that they had either just left or were still inside.

Tilting her head to the side, Shiloh listened intently for several moments until she heard three quiet heartbeats.

There was no telling what she would find inside but knowing that Josie could be there pushed Shiloh into high gear.

Shiloh crept into the old building, claws clicking against the wooden surface of the floor. Two of the three heartbeats sped up in sync with her steps.

The lower floor was desolate, but the loft was covered in…spider webs?

If there hadn’t been a party there once a week, Shiloh might’ve believed that it was just really bad cobwebs. This looked like something straight out of a Syfy film.

“Hey, we’re stuck up here!” her keen hearing matched the voice to Rafael.

Once she pinpointed the direction the voice had come from she found him and Josie mostly hidden by the white webs, effectively trapped by the sticky substance.

“It’s a wolf,” Rafael pointed out the obvious, “but it’s not a full moon.”

“Hybrids can shift at will,” Josie explained, narrowing her eyes at Shiloh’s wolf form, “and since Hope went with Lizzie and the others, there is only one other hybrid at the school,” she bit her lip, “Shiloh?”

Shiloh gave her one quick nod to confirm.

Relief flooded the siphon’s brown eyes, “Shiloh, we’re stuck in this web. We need something that can cut it.”

Ignoring the warmth that blossomed in her chest, Shiloh signaled to the door and did a small turn trying to say, ‘I’ll be right back.’ She hoped that Josie or Rafael understood that she needed to change back or she would be useless. Wolves didn’t come with opposable thumbs.

Neither of them called out after her as turned and trotted out the back door, thanking whoever was up there that she decided to leave a bag with a pair of leggings and a t-shirt inside. Shiloh only needed to shift back in the woods one time and sneak back to her dorm buck naked before she thought ahead.

The change back was quicker but no less painful. She was jumping into her leggings when she heard Rafael call out again.

“Conner?” she heard Josie ask uncertainly right before the same musky smell from earlier hit her in full force.

Shiloh wasted no time grabbing the nearest thing she could turn into a weapon—a fire poker leaning against the side of the building—and rushed back inside to face…

A. Giant. _Freaking._ Spider.

The monster was big, ugly and black as coal. Not to mention its upper half was burnt, smoking and turning a sickly orange color. Shiloh assumed Josie had used a spell if the bright flash she saw before she entered was any indication.

Gulping, Shiloh held up her weapon of choice and cleared her throat loudly, “Hey, you Harry Potter knockoff! Look over here!”

Her taunting seemed to work or maybe the creature just wanted to kill the nearest living thing. Either way, the action got its desired result.

It turned its beady eyes on her and clicked it’s fangs together menacingly.

Shiloh raised the fire poker and swung it like she imagined a knight would have during medieval times, striking the spider creature in the side and eliciting a shrill cry.

Raising the metal object to attack once again, Shiloh watched in horror as the monster turned and shot out some sticky webbing that hit the fire poker and her arm. The force that it hit her with propelled her backward into the wall, trapping her by the hand that was still clutching the poker.

Seemingly satisfied with having incapacitated her, the spider turned its attention back onto Josie and Rafael. No amount of supernatural strength would budge her appendage that was stuck to the wall, meaning she could only struggle and watch as the thing went after the other two.

“Hey, douchebag!” Shiloh had never been happier to see Landon, mostly because she knew that Hope would be with him.

The spider stepped toward him and Landon took a step back, letting Hope and Lizzie pass him. She glanced up at Josie to see her and Rafael kissing.

Her stomach churned and she focused her attention back on the newcomers. There would be plenty of time to mope later when the threat of death wasn’t as imminent.

“Josie I’m gonna need your help!”

Shiloh watched as the three witches joined hands, Rafael bounding down the steps with what she could only guess was Sasha wrapped up in webs. He slipped out one of the exits as the girls started chanting a spell.

Their hands glowed as Josie and Lizzie siphoned power from Hope, sending the spider up against the rafter with the sheer power of their spell. It let out one last cry before exploding and sending orange goo everywhere.

Thankfully, Shiloh reacted quickly enough to cover most of her face from the creature’s guts with her free hand. The other three were, admittedly, not so lucky.

“Ew,” Lizzie whined, flicking it from her eyes and staring at her fingers, “this is _so_ gross.”

“At least you’re not Dana,” Hope reminded her.

Shiloh didn’t think being a vampire was that bad. But Dana’s personality would be amplified to annoying times ten.

“What happened to Dana?” Josie asked.

Hope faced the brunette on her left, “She literally puked her guts out after that thing liquified them,” she continued, “and then your sister hid her body in the glove compartment.”

“What else was I supposed to do with it?” Lizzie questioned when Josie turned her wide eyes on her.

“Um, you guys?” Shiloh finally called out, getting fed up with being stuck to the wall, “This is a great conversation and all, but I kind of need some assistance.”

All three girls looked at her as if they hadn’t noticed she was still hanging there. Hope moved to hover her hands over the webbing that trapped Shiloh against the building and uttered a quick spell that disintegrated the substance right off of her.

“Thanks,” Shiloh rubbed at her freed appendage, trying to wake the nerves up.

“That looked like a pretty _sticky_ situation,” Hope smirked at her own pun.

Shiloh scoffed, “That was so clever. I bet you’ve been waiting a while to use that one.”

“Maybe,” she hummed, “maybe not.”

Satisfied that the monster was destroyed and that everyone was safe, the four students exited the building still covered in orange gunk. The boys watched them from where they stood positioned around Sasha.

They managed to unwrap the human girl from the cocoon of web and she seemed shaken up but was luckily otherwise unharmed.

While they were walking back, Shiloh felt someone fall into step beside her.

“Hey,” Josie greeted, still looking beautiful despite the spider guts covering her body.

“Hi,” whispered Shiloh, still upset about seeing her and Rafael kiss earlier. Somewhere in her head, she knew they did it so Josie could siphon from the werewolf, but she also knew that Josie had a crush on him.

“I just wanted to thank you for trying to help earlier,” the brunette told her, sending her a small smile.

Snorting, Shiloh corrected her, “The key word being ‘trying’ to help.”

Josie stopped, grabbing Shiloh’s arm to get the older girl to halt, too.

“It doesn’t matter if you saved the day or not,” she informed her, “but you risked your life to try.”

Shiloh still didn’t see it that way, but she nodded because Josie had an effect on her that made Shiloh want to believe her.

“Also,” Josie bit her lip, “I wanted to apologize for yelling at you yesterday after the whole gargoyle thing. I was just a little upset and—,”

“Hey,” Shiloh put her hand up, effectively stopping the girl’s rambling, “I get it, I do.”

Josie studied her for a minute before giving her another smile, a full one this time, before catching up with her sister who was a little ahead of them. Shiloh watched her go with a smile much wider than the one she plastered on that morning.

Rafael was forgotten for the moment.

The group brought a confused, but silent Sasha, to the front gates of the school, where MG would compel her to forget about everything that happened. Shiloh was tired, hungry and covered in monster goo.

She had done her job and found Sasha like Dr. Saltzman had asked, even if she wasn’t the one to save her.

“Are you staying here?” she asked Hope, who hadn’t moved toward the entrance to the school’s grounds.

“Just until MG’s finished,” the tribrid explained.

“In that case,” Shiloh grinned, “I call first dibs on the shower!”

She took off running before Hope had even fully registered what she had said.

“You better not use all the hot water!” Hope called after her roommate.

“No promises!”


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long work and my own personal life got in the way. Hope this makes up for it though!

The Salvatore School was implementing an Honor Council.

The reasoning was to give students the power to decide on school issues for themselves. One student would be selected by their peers from each faction—vampire, werewolf, and witch—along with Ms. Tig representing the primary school kids. 

Shiloh wanted no part in any of it.

In her opinion, the idea itself was a good one, but she knew it would turn into a popularity contest that distracted them all from the current situation. Dr. Saltzman may have sent Dorian away with the knife, but she still felt an uneasiness lingering around in her gut. Yet, mostly everyone seemed entirely focused on campaigning for a seat on the council.

Especially Lizzie, who had immediately decided that she was going to be making decisions for the witches as the institutions very own Hillary Clinton. Josie was basically her whole campaign team and Shiloh had already heard whispers of Penelope Park opposing her.

On the other hand, Hope was focused on her non-negotiable task of figuring out if Landon was more than human. Then, there was Rafael who was using his time to make sure the elected Honor Council members would vote to keep Landon at the school, while MG worked to free Kaleb from the werewolf cells.

Last but not least, there was Shiloh, who had no desire to involve herself in any of the above-mentioned things whatsoever.

She had even told Hope that morning after the assembly, “I don’t do politics.”

Which was true, at the time, until Josie found her lounging around in the rec room and asked if she would help put up flyers for Lizzie.

“Uh,” Shiloh stammered, trying and failing to ignore the brown eyes looking at her and the hopeful smile on Josie’s face, “sure.”

It also didn’t hurt the brunette twin’s cause that Shiloh had heard about the argument that went down between her and Penelope a little while before. From what she managed to overhear from some witches, there was some screaming involved on Josie’s end.

Which was how she ended up with a stack of pages with Lizzie Saltzman’s face plastered all over them and paired with her ‘borrowed’ slogan ‘I’m With Her.’

It was the last thing she wanted to be doing, but she had a weakness for brown eyes and the Saltzman girl’s signature pout. So, she taped them to every available surface she could find until there were none left. 

This meant that her job was done and she could officially be done with high school politics for the rest of her life, Josie be damned.

Of course, things were never that easy for the hybrid, because as she was walking back and looking forward to an afternoon nap in her bed, one of the many flyers she had hung had caught her eye. Someone—Shiloh was pretty sure she knew who—had added three letters to the word ‘her’ to make it ‘herpes.’

Sighing, the girl ripped the paper off the wall and retraced her steps. Her conscience refused to let her ignore them.

Every single one had the same exact problem, so Shiloh collected them all until she eventually crossed paths with two freshman painting the blue letters onto another one of the posters.

“Hey!” they jumped when she announced her presence, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Both of them froze, shaking as they stared at her, eyes wide with fear at being caught. She was not the most popular girl at the school for a very good reason. Shiloh took a deep breath, before softening her glare in favor of a stern frown.

“I don’t want to see you doing this again,” she told them, satisfied when nodded so quickly they resembled bobble heads, “and tell your _leader_ she’ll be getting a visit from me if she pulls something else like this today.”

The freshman scampered away, hopefully to relay her message, or to report her to Ms. Tig, Shiloh couldn’t really be sure.

She made to continue her trek down the hallway when she ran into Josie once more, this time looking more worried and clutching some of the vandalized posters in her hand. 

“Thank god,” the other girl sighed when she noticed Shiloh had taken the posters down. “You got the rest of them. If Lizzie saw them she would’ve have exploded, literally.”

Leaving out the fact that she did it mostly for Josie’s sake, she replied, “Yeah, I figured.”

The two stood there in silence for a moment before the witch cleared her throat, “Well, I should get going, Lizzie will freak if I’m not back to listen to her rehearse her acceptance speech.”

Josie turned to leave but Shiloh’s voice called her back.

“Hey, Josie?”

Turning back around, the girl in question gave her full attention, “Yeah, Shiloh?”

Shiloh wanted to tell her not to care if Lizzie got mad at her for spending time doing something other than helping her win the election, wanted to tell her that she deserved a break for practically being a one-man crew, but she didn’t need the girl to get angry with her. She remembered what happened all those times Park tried to breach the subject when they were dating.

It never ended well.

So, instead she asked, “Do you need me to help with anything else?”

Josie smiled, shaking her head, “Nope, I’m pretty sure the rest is up to fate, but thanks for helping out. If you were a witch, I’d ask for your vote on Lizzie’s behalf, but obviously that’s not possible.”

“Sadly, I get the tremendous pleasure of voting for a werewolf and a vampire,” Shiloh pointed out, sarcasm dripping all over her words.

Hearing the other girl laugh was worth all the trouble she had gone through putting up and taking down posters all morning.

The two parted ways and Shiloh redirected her path to where she knew Hope would be testing Landon, all earlier plans of napping long forgotten with the flutter eyelashes belonging to a certain pair of brown eyes. If anything, she was more awake than she had been all morning.

She found Landon and Hope a little past the quad, where the tribrid had the seemingly human teenage boy attempting to hold a handstand. It’s safe to say he wasn’t doing a very good job.

“This looks like bunches of fun,” she quipped as she came to a halt next to her roommate, watching as Landon promptly fell on his ass.

“Hey,” he whined, throwing an accusing look at the newcomer. “She messed me up!”

“I could’ve held that position for a half-an-hour _while_ being pelted with tennis balls,” Shiloh informed him smugly.

Hope cleared her throat, “I want to finish this as quickly as possible and Shiloh you’re really not helping. Landon, go try and lift that log over there.”

The teen’s shoulders slumped as he meandered over to the large piece of wood, bending down to try and pick it up. While he failed, Hope turned back to Shiloh, her blue eyes falling to the stack of papers still in her hands.

“What happened to ‘I don’t do politics’?” Hope wondered, smirk plastered across her face as she mocked the girl’s earlier words.

“Shut up,” muttered Shiloh, “I came to see if you made any progress but I can see that you’re not getting anywhere, and since you were mean to me, I’m not going to help you.”

“How could I possibly need help when there’s nothing even happening?” was Hope’s response, her jaw set as she glanced back over at Landon.

Shiloh shrugged, not having an answer for the tribrid. She was pretty sure Landon was human, but with everything going on, there could be a chance that the boy was something more than what he appeared to be on the surface.

So, she left her roommate to continue her struggle testing Landon for any ounce of supernatural ability in favor of hitting up the kitchen for a snack. She had skipped lunch helping Josie with the campaign and her werewolf side required constant sustenance; otherwise, she’d be perfect for a Snickers commercial.

Although the kitchen was technically off-limits to students, Shiloh and most of the other teenagers rarely acknowledged that rule and continuously broke it.

After arriving in the kitchen, she helped herself to a box of brownie mix and followed the directions until she had a ceramic bowl filled with the smooth chocolate substance. Instead of popping it into the oven, she decided to forgo that step in favor of eating it with a spoon as if it were pudding.

Rafael appeared in the doorway minutes later, covered in blood and bruises. He ignored Shiloh sitting up on the countertop and stalked over to the large freezer, pulling out a frozen bag of peas and placing it on his chin.

“Rough day?” commented Shiloh around the wooden spoon stuck in her mouth.

The newbie werewolf spun around to face her and leant back against the freezer door. He eyed her for a moment before giving her a response.

“Something like that.”

Shiloh tilted her head to the side while studying him, “So, who won?”

“What?” Rafael asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“You obviously got into a fight,” she gestured at him with her spoon, before dipping it back into the bowl, “but I can’t tell if you got your ass handed to you or if you won. I’m assuming you got into it with our lovely resident alpha?”

“I did,” the boy mumbled, “I won.”

“So, that means you’re the new alpha,” pointed out Shiloh, enjoying the way his face pulled up in discomfort. “Congratulations,”

Her praise was met with silence, so she took the time to shovel more brownie mix into her mouth as Rafael tried to come up with a response. 

“I didn't want it,” he finally spoke, finding his words.

“Then why did you fight him?” Shiloh wondered. “Were you just sick of his bullcrap like most of us?”

Rafael cracked a smile, but shook his head, “No, I just wanted to make sure Landon could stay and Jed wasn’t going to let that happen. So, I got down to his level and fought him for it.”

“While I’m impressed you managed to take the alpha mantel so soon after triggering your curse,” the hybrid informed him, “I think you should be prepared for the backlash of it all.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean, that Jed isn’t just going to roll over and die,” put Shiloh bluntly, “It might not be soon, but he’ll retaliate is some way and you should be prepared for it,” she added. “Dude’s a douchebag, but he’s not a coward.”

Her warning was brushed off, “I can handle Jed.”

“I hope you can, Rafael,” she spoke honestly, looking at the clock on the wall and turning back to him, “Now, it looks like you have an election to win.”

* * *

It was no surprise when Rafael was elected to represent the werewolves on the Honor Council.

In fact, that was the least surprising result of the entire election. Kaleb managed to secure a win without even being there and all of MG’s hard work campaigning backfired. Shiloh felt bad for the charismatic vampire who most likely would’ve done extremely well in the position.

Boy was built for that kind of life.

Yet, what really ended up shocking her was the winner from the witches. Shiloh had thought she misheard Emma when she read the result out loud, that maybe her own inner infatuation was causing her to hear things.

“And the witch representative is…Josie.”

Her first instinct was to look at Lizzie, who’s reaction was quite similar to Shiloh’s.

Shock.

The blonde Saltzman twin’s gaze hardened as she exchanged glances with her sister. There was no doubt a storm was brewing underneath her deadly calm outward appearance. Shiloh prayed she wouldn’t be caught in the middle of it because the last time she witnessed a Lizzie meltdown, she a high heel almost stabbed her in the neck.

Josie was no doubt also surprised at the news and looked as if someone had just told her they ran over her dog. Her reaction was completely different from her sisters, yet she didn’t seem as defeated, just determined.

Once the excitement from the election results died down, the students were quick to disperse, no one leaving quite as quickly as the Saltzman girls, though. The tension in the air was so thick Shiloh could practically taste it and it made her uncomfortable.

She tried to find somewhere to go that wasn’t filled with Salvatore students gossiping, but it was no use. All her usual nooks and corners were taken and she wasn’t in the mood to scare anyone away to get a spot. 

So, she went back to the dorms and found Hope pacing the floor and muttering to herself. 

Not an unusual occurrence to come across with the tribrid. 

“Wearing more holes into the ground again I see? It would work faster if you just used a shovel.” Shiloh remarked from where she was leaning against the doorframe.

Hope was very receptive to her joke and glared at her. “I’m this close to using a spell to shut you up!”

Normally, Shiloh might’ve tried pushing her buttons a little further, especially because she needed to distract herself from the whole Lizzie/Josie situation, but the orb glowing blue on her bed made her pause, knowing Hope was dead serious. 

“Is it the Landon thing?” she wondered, instead, “You couldn’t find anything supernatural about him?”

“Not a single microscopic hint of any supernatural abilities,” Hope groaned, falling back onto her bed, “it was a waste of time and I told Dr. Saltzman that before we even started.”

“Why are you so upset about it then?” Shiloh moved to her own mattress as she voiced her question. “Doesn’t that mean Landon can’t stay? I thought that’s what you wanted.”

Hope sucked in a deep breath, eyes closed and pinching her nose, then exhaled, “It is. I mean, if he’s not supernatural then there’s no reason for him to remain here…but he doesn’t have anywhere else to go.” 

The last part was spoken a little bit louder than a whisper, but Shiloh’s enhanced senses picked it up, regardless.

The older girl plucked her sketchbook from her nightstand and started scratching her pencil on one of the pages.

Shiloh understood Hope’s reluctance to trust the boy after he lied—even if he didn’t know what he was doing—but couldn’t help but see how similar the two of them were. Both didn’t have parents in the picture and were loners in their respective schools. Shiloh herself could relate to both of them and knew it was something that drew her sire closer to the human.

“But, do you want him to stay?” she pushed, trying to get Hope to figure out her feelings instead of just telling her.

“It doesn’t matter,” Hope looked across the room, “it’s not up to me, anyway.”

“True, it’s up to the Honor Council, but I think you have a influence over several members and could sway the vote if you tried,” Shiloh reminded her.

“Isn’t that corruption?” deadpanned Hope, unexpressed with her suggestion. “Plus, I don’t have many friends, remember?”

“All politics are corrupt,” the hybrid retorted, sticking out her tongue. “But, you’ve been making progress with people and Josie is on the council, so you could talk to her. Also, Ms. Tig will probably vote to let him stay.”

Hope scribbled some more of her drawing, the noise making Shiloh’s skin crawl, “Maybe.”

It was all she was going to get from the introverted teenager, which was more than she would have gotten a year ago. So, she opened her closet and pulled out leggings and a t-shirt.

“Where are you going?”

“For a run,” she explained while changing into the new clothes. 

Once she was dressed and wearing a pair of sneakers, Shiloh headed towards the back of the school, where there were several trails for running. Typically, she would transform into her wolf form to go for a run, but that day she just wanted to relax and run on two feet without breaking all of the bones in her body to do so.

* * *

She made it pretty far out into the forest by the time the sun started to set, so she turned and headed back in the direction of the Salvatore School. The sound of her shoes hitting the ground in quick succession was relaxing in the same way the wind was hitting her in the face.

Just as she was about to round the bend of trees that would reveal the school, a sweet smell wafted into her nose. It was a smell that used to be coppery like pennies before she was turned into a vampire.

Blood.

Shiloh was confused for several reasons.

The first was because it was human blood. She could tell because it was not accompanied by the certain scents that clung to the different supernatural creatures she had come across. 

The second reason was that feeding from humans was forbidden at the Salvatore School and although Kaleb had broken that rule, she had doubt he’d do it blatantly on campus where he could be caught. Dr. Saltzman only kept animal blood in the kitchens.

Which was why Shiloh moved quickly in order to find the source of the scent and was led to one of the several clearings on the school’s sprawling campus. 

A groan caught her attention and she focused on the figure at the bottom of the small hill, face covered in blood and laying flat on their back.

“Landon!” her voiced hitched in concern. 

Landon didn’t respond to her, seemingly unconscious which by the amount of blood running down his nose, Shiloh figured he had been knocked out by whoever or whatever had hit him.

Three long strides carried her down the hill and she dropped to her knees at the boy’s side. She could hear his heartbeat and she him breathing, so she knew he was alive. 

“Landon!” Shiloh shoved his shoulder lightly, only pushing harder when she didn’t receive a response. “Landon!”

Finally. Landon coughed out a little bit of blood and rolled over onto his side, groaning.

The tantalizing smell of blood caused the veins under Shiloh’s eyes to get darker and her fangs extended, but one shake of her head caused her vampire features to return to normal. She wouldn’t be responsible for the death of another person. The woman Klaus had made her kill after first turning was one more than enough.

Shiloh returned her attention to the waking teen, who was still on his side. “Landon, can you hear me?”

“Yeah,” Landon groaned, clutching at his head, “I can hear you.”

“Who did this to you?” was her first question and most important question now that he was awake.

“It was Jed,” he answered, moving to sit up and grimacing in pain.

Sighing, the girl held her hand to her forehead, “I told Rafael this was going to happen.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Shiloh brushed off his question in favor of pulling out her cellphone, relieved she had thought to bring it on her run.

“Hello?” the voice at the other end was distracted.

“Hope, something happened with Landon. Find Rafael and come to the northeast end of the quad as soon as you can,” keeping the situation as vague as possible, she hoped the other girl wouldn’t panic.

Noise on Hope’s end signaled the other girl had jumped out of bed shot out of the room into the hall, the door slamming shut behind her. “What happened?” she asked, worry clear in her voice.

“Just get here Rafael and get here,” Shiloh hung up, returning her attention to the human boy who was staring at the hand he had used to wipe his face with, his skin turning a sickly green color. 

“Landon…” Shiloh trailed off.

She had anticipated what was about to happen and managed to catch the teen by his shoulders before his head could smack against the dirt. 

“My God,” Shiloh muttered, pulling back and sitting on her feet. “Doesn’t pass out at the sight of a fully turned werewolf, but a little blood and he keels over.”

Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long and Rafael was the first to reach them, followed quickly by Hope who was cursing her shorter stature for not being able to keep up with the other wolf.

“What the hell happened?” Rafael turned to Shiloh, his eyes changing to a golden yellow in his anger. He took an aggressive step towards her.

Shiloh mimicked his posture, pointing a finger at his chest, “Whoah there, I didn’t do anything so cut the big dog crap! This is exactly what I told you was going to happen. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s only a little bit of blood and probably a concussion.”

While Hope hovered over Landon trying to come up with a spell to help their situation, Rafael latched on to only a part of Shiloh’s explanation. 

“Jed did this?” His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides.”I’m gonna kill him.”

Before he could beat the living hell out of the other werewolf, Shiloh held him back with one of her hands, gripping his bicep to keep him from making good on his threat. 

“Leave Jed to me,” she told him, only letting go when Rafael looked at his brother and didn’t seem intent on killing anyone at the moment. “You go help Hope with Landon. I think Emma is on her way down,” Shiloh guessed, squinting at the small female figure that was hurrying towards them.

She turned to Hope, who was wiping some of the blood off of Landon’s face with her jacket. “You good here?”

“Yeah,” the tribrid’s gaze never left Landon, “You go deal with Jed, Rafael and I can handle this."

Shiloh offered a half-hearted thumbs up before heading to the school, passing the guidance counselor on the way and offering a quick run-down and promising not to murder Jed. Then, she marched up the stairs and into the boys dorm hall.

She passed several doors on her journey down the hallway before stopping at the one housing the wolf she wanted.

Without a knock or announcing her arrival, Shiloh flung open the door, scaring Jed’s roommate so badly he fell off of his bed. It would have elicited a laugh from Shiloh had she not been there on important business.

Jed looked up from his laptop, bruised face giving away nothing.

“What the fuck, man?” Shiloh growled, stalking over the boy while his roommate fled the room.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he responded, seemingly bored with the conversation.

“Oh yeah?” retorted Shiloh reaching forward and pulling him up by the collar of his shirt, “wanna try that again, buddy?”

“Dude deserved it,” Jed hissed, “it’s his fault that I’m not alpha anymore!”

“Oh, boo hoo,” mocked the girl, shoving him into the wall. “you can’t blame Landon for you being an awful leader. Someone was gonna kick your ass and take it from you eventually.”

Jed didn’t respond, just stared at her cooly which fueled her anger.

Shiloh pulled her arm back, fist poised to punch the smug wolf in the face. His eyes widened in shock and her hand hit the wall inches from his ear, leaving a small dent.

“If you pull anything like this again, I’ll be back,” she warned, “Got it?”

He mumbled an agreement, and although she heard him, she wasn’t going to take that for an answer. 

She shook him a little bit harder, “ _got it_?”

“Yes, I got it.”

Giving him one last glare, Shiloh released her hold on him, backing out of the room, but not before saying, “It’s too bad I don’t have control of what Rafael’s gonna do when he finds you.”

She won’t lie that the scared look on his face at the thought gave her a small amount of satisfaction.

Shiloh resolved that she needed to take a nap and wasn’t going to be detoured this time on her way to her room.

Of course, that plan worked better in theory than in actuality.

Josie caught her in the hallway, stopping her with the call of her name. 

“Is it true?” she questioned Shiloh, biting her lip in worry.

“I’m not quite sure what you mean,” the hybrid quirked an eyebrow.

“That Jed beat up Landon earlier,” Josie elaborated. She played with her hands in the way Shiloh noticed she did whenever she was anxious about something. 

“Yeah, he did,” Shiloh gave her confirmation, “but Landon should be alright.”

Her words didn’t seem to quell Josie’s fear, but instead made her appear even more conflicted. 

“Okay, thanks Shiloh,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair, “I’ve got to go to the Honor Council meeting. So, maybe I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Josie moved before Shiloh could even return her goodbye, quickly moving down the hall and disappearing through the doors leading to the stairs.

“Bye,” she breathed, standing there for a moment and staring at where the other girl was just standing.

* * *

Landon didn’t get to stay at the Salvatore School.

Somehow, Hope had landed a seat on the council and persuaded several members to vote against him for whatever reason. She claimed it was to protect him.

The vote was close, but something happened at the meeting that caused Josie and Hope to vote for Landon to leave. Along with Kaleb’s vote, it was enough to tip the scales and send the perceived outsider away.

From what she had gotten out of Hope before the tribrid had rushed out of the room with a parting gift for Landon, Josie was the deciding vote.

Shiloh felt partly responsible for her decision to vote against the human boy. She was the one who had told Josie what had happened and maybe the reason she decided to vote the way she had.

It was almost impossible for Shiloh to sleep that night, guilt and anger keeping her awake.


End file.
